Well, you all know what multi-level marketing (MLM)/ pyramid scheme is all about. If not, google it, and there’s a plethora of articles on the same. One of my close friends was creating a lot of suspense about making more money out of less effort, and as an endorsement, he confirmed receiving BIG money out of it. Finally, the suspense was washed out of my head when he lead me to a packed hall at holy place, filled with like-minded people who were in search of big money. I immediately knew that this was some type of network marketing thing, but decided to stick on as I didn’t want to hurt my friend right away by bailing out of the crowd.

Money - has been the ‘magic’ word since ancient times when salt was paid as salary, and eventually evolved taking different avatars from gold coins, paper currencies to plastics. Money - we (read: salaried class!) are joyous to see some five digit salary amount being credited to our bank accounts at the end of each month, and we do curse for paying more taxes to the government that does very little in return. We regret to see an MLA or MP whizzing past on his Mahindra Scorpio or Honda Civic, mostly bought out of our tax money, while we argue with those ridiculous autorickshaw guys in the scorching sun to get from one end to the other. Phew..I can write for another 500 words about the MONEY we don’t have, and the MONEY that others make, sometimes very easily.

One such ‘fast money’ mantra happens to be the slew of MLM/Pyramid scheme companies targeting middle class people. But before I go on to narrate my narrow escape story, let me tell you that not all MLM schemes are illegal or unethical. Wikipedia’s article on the same will further clarify on this: “In the most legitimate MLM companies, commissions are earned only on sales of the company’s products or services. No money may be earned from recruiting alone (”sign-up fees”), though money earned from the sales of members recruited is one attraction of MLM arrangements. If participants are paid primarily from money received from new recruits, or if they are required to buy more product than they are likely to sell, then the company is a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, which is illegal in most countries.”

Well, the speech (or canvassing) started with an unsual greeting called “happy moments”, which many didn’t realize that the happy moments are for those business operatives and not for the prospective buyers (read: victims) - no pun intended. After narrating a few success stories of people who made about five lakh rupees in 3 months, ten lakh rupees in 6 months, and so on, the torch bearer of the scheme in Chennai and Bengaluru gave a spell-binding speech. I was impressed by his delivery and he also kept repeating that everyone wants to ‘die rich’! Well, I don’t wanna die when I’m rich, would rather want to die happy, per se. He also had a funny equation that happiness is an exponential result of being rich, and that he is happy to spend 60 minutes of his time teaching the ‘art of money-ing’ to us. It’s a perfect pyramid scheme (or sham!?) that unfolded in front of me, with details of the initial investment and unit-wise rewards once you make people join under you. This conforms to the aforementioned definition where ‘participants are paid primarily from money received from new recruits, and they are required to buy more product than they are likely to sell‘.

The speaker said that we must thank our friends for bringing us here and for being shown the secret of making fast money…I had one good look at my friend, with his face gleaming with joy! Poor him…he lost about thirty thousand rupees while joining the sham, and he was merrily pushed to making his close associates , ‘exploiting the trust factor’, join the sham. My brother was a sad victim of one such scheme, and I was a bit more cautious in these kinda’ unethical schemes. It was 9 PM, the speech ended with a thank you note, and I stepped out of the hall without uttering a word. My friend walked up to me and said, “so, when are you gonna join?” I said with a smile, “this is a beautiful scheme, and ‘wud wanna take some time to join” - negation by delay! He says, “time is precious, there might be a few people under you if you join right now. If you’re facing a financial crunch, lemme pay for you, and you pay me in 3 installments” Wow, since when did he become a money lender, that too with zero percent interest…if only housing and car loans were like this..yeah I wish!

Right from the very next day, I was constantly questioned for not joining immediately, and I finally broke my silence that all these were a sham, and that I didn’t expect someone educated as good as him to be a prey of this. He started substantiating the entire scheme by forwarding news articles and clippings about GoldQuest and Quest International, which didn’t impress me much. So, ’twas my turn and I forwarded him many articles citing detention of the operatives in Chennai and many other countries, and also news on Sri Lanka and Nepal banning this pyramid sham as a result of Gold Quest’s / Quest International’s cheating and fraudulent business practices. As a matter of fact, my findings didn’t impress him much and he went on with it.

I just said one thing, “they are gonna be arrested again, when you are happily pulling your near and dear ones into this sham” and…It happened!

I’m yet to see or hear from him after this news came out…and ‘ll update on this after listening to what he has got to say! Stay tuned fellas!

Picture credit: Questnet