It's Just Money

So, what's the problem with Multi Level Marketing scams (er, business models)

Recently, I wrote a post about the product, Mona Vie, which is sold through a Multi-Level Marketing system.  In case you are not familiar with the product, it is a super juice of some sort with exotic ingredients, such as Acai Berries and Kyrptonite.  I questioned the ability for the juice to cure all the ailments that is claimed by the many distributors out there, and the viability of the business model to actually make money for those same distributors.

The number of comments on that post was pretty incredible.  Many of the comments, not surprisingly, defended the quality of the juice.  The juice was credited with healing, curing or aiding in the following areas:  multiple sclorosis, weight loss, joint pain, high blood pressure, mood swings, something about ORAC values in Leukemia cells, insomnia, headaches, stomachaches, arthritis and gas reduction.  I'm serious.  It does all this.  Read the comments for yourself.  They don't lie.

Of course, there were comments that defended the business model, and in fact the MLM business model in general.  Frankly, being a money blog, this is what interested me.  I could give a damn about the juice.  If it tastes good, doesn't kill people, and can sell, maybe I'll sign up to make some money.  But do I really want to be one of those MLM people out there?

So, here were the arguments in favor of multi-level marketing.

Is Mona Vie a Scam or the Real Deal?

Someone I know has recently become a distibutor for Mona Vie, a juice which purports to give you increased energy, boost your immune system, rid you of any joint pain, feed the hungry and bring peace to the Middle East.

She has encouraged me to try it and become a distributor, but I have politely declined.  The distributor part.  I tried the juice.  It's tasty.  I didn't really stick with it long enough to see any noticeable health or energy benefits, so I can't speak to that part.

It's sold through a Multi-Level Marketing program.  Let's face it, I'm not enamored with the idea of MLMs.  I pretty much assume they are scams, unless proven otherwise.  There have been too many, from Amway to Quixtar, there were the long distance phone ones from about ten years ago, and the super blue green algae.  Remember all that crap?

So, I did a bit of digging.  Not a lot, but I wanted to know what the fuss was all about.  Online, there were a lot of positive things said about the juice itself.  How many of those online comments were by distributors of the stuff, we have no way of knowing.

I guess I have two problems with this juice:

Warnings from Mom

My mom recently retired, and as a retirement gift, my siblings and I bought her a computer and set up her internet access.  I love my mom.  But she, well, let's just say that internet rumors and urban legends were written specifically for her.  My entire life I heard, "Oh, did you hear?  You know that stuff, [fill in the blank]?  Well, they say that it kills people."  She would go on to recount impressive detail of the story as told on the evening news, her office mate or a neighbor.

She's still waiting for the killer bees to come to Los Angeles, she refuses to flash her lights at a car without theirs on for fear that they will shoot her as part of a gang initiation.  She has stopped using Swiffer Wet-Jet for fear that my sister's young kids will be killed like the dog she read about on the internet.  Now that she is retired and has a computer at home, you can imagine the internet rumors and e-mail warnings that she and her friends send to one another.

So, when I received an email from her warning with the subject line, "Fwd: [Fwd: FW: JURY DUTY SCAM]" you know why I chuckled and was a bit skeptical.

Here's the text of the email:

Two Elderly Women Kill Homeless Men for Insurance Money

There's insurance fraud, and then there's INSURANCE FRAUD!  These ladies are disgusting and should spend the rest of their lives in jail.  But what about the insurance companies?

It's a strange story; the kind you would see on Law and Order.  One detective was talking openly about a peculiar case of the hit and run murder of a homeless man, when another detective put the dots together, noting the similarity to an unresolved case he had worked on six years earlier.

Internet Ads I Hate

Have you seen this ad?

It's all over Yahoo Finance.  So, if you're here, I'm sure you've been there.  Sounds like a pretty good deal doesn't it?  Heck, if you're renting, you're just crazy!  At these rates, you could pay LESS and OWN!

Isn't that what they want us to believe?

Don't Get Hooked by These Scams

Check out this article on Bankrate.com, Don't get hooked by these 9 scams

Recently, in Easiest $4,375,000 Ever, I mentioned two different scams, the email from a foreign prince/dignitary requesting your bank account info to make a deposit, and phishing.  Neither were included on Bankrate's list.

For those who do not know, phishing is the practice of sending emails that look like the are originated from a financial institution.  With any luck on the part of the crooks, it will be your bank.  They swipe the logos, the fonts, everything they can to make it look real.  When you click through and "verify" your bank account info, they say "thank you" and proceed to clean you out.  Well, maybe they don't say thank you.

Be careful folks.  There's some bad people after your money.

Easiest $4,375,000 Ever

Read Email Here
I got this email from a citizen of Senegal.  Looks like all I have to do is give them my bank account information, and they will transfer $12.5 to my account.  They take 60%, I get 40%, or $4,375,000.  I could sure use four million, three hundred seventy five thousand US dollars.

How often do you think people fall for this?  Did you read the email?  I like how the words, "FINANCE FIRM" are in bold letters.  Do you think they were supposed to replace "FINANCE FIRM" with the name of an actual bank?

I thought this was funny, and I would share.  But it's really not funny.  The fact that these still get sent mean that there are still suckers out there responding to them.  My Mom knows not to open emails from her bank, and especially to not click on whatever they are requesting.  "But how do they know where I bank?" she asks.  We're getting into another topic, but the emails that my Mom receives is known as phishing.  She receives emails from several banks that she has never heard of, and deletes without question.  She then receives an email with her bank's logo, and thinks, "wait a minute.  That's my bank.  Do I need to respond?"  Then thinks better, but is freaked out at how they "know" where she banks.