MLM Blog – Network Marketing Blog

MLM Blog contributor, Vance wrote an article a few months ago about ROI Unlimited and today I found evidence that the company is bouncing checks to it's distributors.

Here is the recent comment:

I was all excited about ROI until a bonus check bounced. I've called them 4 times about this and left a message over the last two weeks and have never heard back. If this were a reputable company, it seems to me they would have gotten right back to me to explain themselves. At this point, I'm going to have a very hard time telling people about the benefits of this company with the knowledge that they have bounced a check on me. How do I get my money back - all of it? I feel like this company is inept and fraudulent, not just a scam. Does anyone know any attorneys that go after companies like this?

The is the same company that is headquartered out of a P.O. Box in an Arizona UPS Store and people wonder why Vance suggested a red flag.

Hello MLM Blog readers. I'm the new guy here, Vance. I want to thank MLM Blog founder, Ty Tribble for inviting me to be a blogger.  I've been in the industry for over 20 years and Ty's nickname for me is "Old School".

I am hoping to offer a little different perspective on the MLM News. Watch for me once a week or so.

Now on with the show.  I recently received an email from someone about a company called LifeVantage, thought I would share it with you and see what you think:

Thank you for taking time out to read my E-mail, now before you split please read below and open your mind.

As we all know, in todays world Cancer is becoming as huge issue for peoples well being a life. The great thing is that finally a company by the name of LifeVantage has created a product that has been PROVEN to not only put cancer in a head lock but also do many other fabulous things to the bosy on the inside such as decrease the amount of inflimation in the body, STOP the process that causes heart issues, helps the muscles recover faster for all those gym buffs and also reactivate old cell in the body that have turned off due too ageing.

We know that this guy is not the best of spellers, but outside of that, what do you think about his claims?

Cyber crime is on the rise and work from home schemes and scams are everywhere these days. Here's an excerpt from an article I found at WMBF in Myrtle Beach.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a consumer warning Wednesday, as thousands of consumers continue to lose money from work-from-home scams.

Officials claim scam victims are often recruited by organized cybercriminals through a variety of outlets, ranging from newspaper ads to online employment services and unsolicited emails.

Once a person is recruited for the job, officials say often times the consumer becomes a "mule" for cyber criminals to steal and launder money.

Now, federal officials are warning consumers to be on the lookout for these types of scams and to take precautions to avoid becoming a victim. Those looking for work are asked to be wary of work-from-home opportunities and to research a company before signing on for work.

Other tips from the FBI to avoid work-from-home scams include:

* Be cautious about any opportunities offering the chance to work from home with very little work or prior experience. Remember: if it looks too good to be true, it usually is.

* Never pay for the privilege of working for an employer. Be suspicious of opportunities that require you to pay for things up front, such as supplies and other materials.

* Never give your bank account details to anyone unless you know and trust them.
 

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Daily MLM Book Recommendation: The Zen of MLM

- Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent -

Fortune High-Tech Marketing is back in the news again and gets raked over the coals by USA Today. You can check out the FHTM MLM Blog coverage and reader comments from back in March when they got shut down in Montana here. The fact is - 30% of Fortune representatives make nothing, and 54% of those with earnings average just $93 a month. Where's the fortune in that?

Marie Richardson of Daytona Beach, Fla., has never been as excited about a business opportunity as she is about her new work for Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing. In her first week and a half as an independent sales representative this summer, she earned $800 in bonuses for recruiting four customers who agreed to pay a fee to become salespeople and buy or sell products.

Kimberly Asper of Missoula, Mont., however, says she sometimes has to feed her family cereal or ramen noodles for dinner since she was laid off from a job and spent thousands trying to build a business through Fortune. She soon realized it was all about "signing people up."

Richardson was one of several thousand salespeople who gathered here last month for a Fortune conference to learn how to recruit people and sell products including cellphone service and private-label vitamins for the company, which Fortune's top money earner, Ruel Morton, calls "the most lucrative financial opportunity in the history of the country." Asper, meanwhile, was one of the Montanans whose complaints led to a lawsuit filed by the state securities commissioner and settlement that required Fortune to tell current and new representatives that no compensation will be paid for recruitment. Fortune paid $1 million to settle the charges, including $840,000 to reimburse Montanans, but did not admit wrongdoing.

Read the whole article at USA Today. And check out the new MLM Blog Page on Facebook. Just click the banner below...you know, the one that says Facebook. And don't forget to click "Like" when you get there...first 1000 fans have a chance to win free advertising on the MLM Blog!

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I found this over at Money Life magazine - these shysters will do anything for a buck.

An MLM company that claims to be Asia’s largest online survey company, does not even have an office address or a telephone number but is offering to ‘pay’ $10 just for filling out online surveys

Speak Asia Online, which claims to be based in Singapore, is spreading its multi-level marketing (MLM) wings in India under the pretext of online surveys. As is usual in any MLM scheme, this company also makes big claims about earnings, but fails to provide any documentary evidence for the same.

The company asks new customers or subscribers to pay $120 (standard) or $220 (premium) for becoming a panellist for one year. However, it says the fee is for its e-bulletin for one year. It clearly says: "You can remain a panellist and earn from Speak Asia only as long as your subscription to E-Bulletin is in force." This means, before earning a single penny, you need to pay the company upfront. After the one-year period, one needs to renew the subscription. There is no mention of renewal fees.

Speak Asia Online sends its surveys mostly on Wednesday to all subscribers. Each survey takes around 40 minutes to complete. It says: "The first eight weeks are treated as a training period and the company provides you feedback on incorrectly filled surveys." After that period, any incomplete or incorrect surveys are rejected and the company does not pay for it.

The company assures that it will make the payment in local currency through direct bank transfers. The catch here is that one has to pay bank transfer charges of 3% or minimum $7.5 per payment. In case you have earned $10 for the month, you would get payment of $2.5 only, as $7.5 from the total payment would get deducted as bank transfer charges.

There are however legitimate online surveys that you can win cash and prizes participating in...and even get paid. I've listed a few surveys sites below that I've found from legitimate and respected companies.

If you're in the US try out: Ipsos Survey Panel or The Survey Doctor

If you're in Canada try out: Canada Survey Panel or Ipsos Canada Survey

Does anyone know of any legitimate survey sites in other countries?

iZigg is a new MLM company that promises wealth based on text message advertising. 

Let's state the obvious: Texting is a big trend.

Now let's state the not-so-obvious: The cast of characters behind iZigg are the same bunch who were closely involved with Burnlounge, where the FTC filed a lawsuit and shut them down.  Then they went on to another company called LocalAdLink, another alleged scam that had people paying a bunch of money to get listed on Google.

The players:

Brian Underwood:  Master Distributor Burnlounge, National Sales Director, LocalAdlink

Dr. Scott Elliott: FTC vs. Burnlounge (sued by the FTC), then heavily involved promoting LocalAdLink

Jason Borne: VP and Founding Partner in Burnlounge, Founding Partner in LocalAdLink

Opinion:

This is a classic "lots of hype" money game that will not last. If you don't believe me, here is a list of companies that I said the same thing about.  How are they doing today?

• iJango
• Burnlounge
• YTB Travel
• MyMusicTicket
• BioPerformance
• Ad Surf Daily (ASD)

Here's an excerpt from another article about Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing at

:

It's been called the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to own your own business… Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, based here in Kentucky, is growing rapidly worldwide.

The company says average people can quickly make big bucks by selling products from well known, trusted companies.

But former Fortune managers tell WHAS11 that the company is a pyramid scheme, where raises and promotions are not based on product sales, but on recruiting.

FHTM is seemingly turning up everywhere…all over the Internet, on YouTube and in meeting rooms, auditoriums and restaurants in all 50 states.

An estimated 200,000 representatives have been recruited, mostly at scheduled weekly gatherings.

In Louisville, they're held at the Fern Valley Inn and at Furlong's Restaurant.

“You’re gonna get paid $100,000 a year for doing exactly what you do today,” said Florida Fortune Representative Trey Knight, one of the company’s top recruiters in a promotional video obtained by WHAS11.

Todd Rowland, a Fortune Rep from Arkansas, claims before a packed meeting room, “Last month, what I was paid on a monthly basis was more than I would have been paid in five years coaching at the high school level.”

The pitches promise fast cash with help from a higher power.

Kevin Mullens, a Pentecostal pastor out of Crawford, FL delivers his recorded speech inside a church.

He encourages other pastors in the audience to get involved by signing up members of their congregations.

“The Lord wanted you to be here today,” he says during a recruiting session under a cross. “Can't survive. Can't pay your bills and all of the sudden, the Lord opened a door.”

Read the whole story...

Here's an excerpt from a recent article from

in San Antonio:

Oh, there's cash to be made. And when Lisa in New Braunfels saw what a friend was bringing in: more than $7,600 a month, she was sold.

"She was 24 years old. I owned my own business and I wasn't taking home $7,600 a month. That's more than what most men make at a high paid job," said Lisa.

So, Lisa sold her company to become a rep for Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, or FHTM.

Tom Mills, the CEO of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing said,"A lot of companies are formed to market a certain product. We're formed to market products that are already being used." Mills claims FHTM has ties with major companies: GE Securities, Dish Network, A T & T, Sprint and others.

Read the whole story...

The following is a MarketWave Alert from Len Clements.  Len has graciously allowed me to post his complete alerts here for the benefit of our readers.

Hello all,

If I ever kept a record book on such matters, the number of requests for my "opinion" on Numis Network might be a contender for the #1 spot, at least this year for sure. So, even though I've had to take my "watchdog" hat off the last few months (in lieu of my "distributor hat"), and after spending the last few weeks actually trying to get my facts straight before commenting publicly (I hate the taste of foot), for what it's worth, here's my take on Numis...

I participated in a public, but not well publicized, debate call with the Numis leadership a couple of weeks ago. You can hear the call HERE. Also on the call were Shannon Denniston, Troy Dooley and attorneys Spencer Reese and Kevin Thompson. I think Numis cofounder Jake Kevorkian and his team won some major credibility points by just agreeing to this call. They represented themselves and their company admirably. They also made a great case for why the coins themselves are a legitimate, viable product. As an avid baseball card collector I can vouch for the fact that, although they are arguably an "investment" (I could have made a nice living buying and selling cards in the early 90s, before the bubblegum bubble burst around '95), I collect them simply because a Nolan Ryan rookie card, or a 1957 Hank Aaron error card, are just cool to own. I can easily see how folks might feel the same way about silver coins.

So no, Numis is not the same thing as all the gold & silver deals that have been shut down in the past (American Gold Eagle, Gold Unlimited, etc.). They are not simply selling an alternative form of American currency (like selling a Susan B. Anthony dollar for $1.00), nor are they selling vouchers in lieu of coins.

Fortune Hi Tech Marketing has been ordered to cease and desist operating in the State of Montana according to a report from the AP:

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Montana has ordered a Lexington, Ky.-based company to cease operations in the state, accusing it of running a pyramid scheme.

Monica J. Lindeen, the state Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, says Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing took nearly $1.9 million from at least 1,295 Montana participants between July 2006 and June 2009.

Lindeen says the company lures new members with income opportunities with companies such as Dish Network and General Electric. But, she says, members only benefit if they recruit others to join in the alleged scam.

Here is a copy of the Montana Complaint Against Fortune Hi Tech Marketing.

Here is a link to the FHTM Statement to Montana Reps.

This action comes on the heals of North Dakota taking similar action back in December where the State Attorney General files a Cease and Desist against FHTM.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued a Cease & Desist Order against Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing of Lexington, KY and its principals Paul C. Oberson, Jeff Oberson, and Thomas A. Mills for violations of North Dakota transient merchant, consumer fraud, and home solicitation sales laws. The Order was filed late yesterday, December 10, 2009.