Peace of Mind

SECTION 1

This thing never attracts my attention at all until recently. A couple of unfortunate ‘friends’ (who they claim to be) thought that I was some guy who just set afoot in KL from a jungle somewhere in east Peninsular, hoping that I would be interested to make some ’side income’. Well, I just let them give it a try.

Some say its ‘business’, some con artist calls it’s ‘networking’, and to the extreme level of stupidity, they say it ‘opportunity’. In those 3 words they think hard to describe about the nature of what they’re doing, the terms ‘opportunity’ is the most laughable of all. Opportunity for what? Becoming a millionaire by your 28th birthday? Let’s get the fact straight, it isn’t business like others nor networking, it is Multi-Level-Marketing, or to be completely honest, it’s ‘The Pyramid Scheme’. It does not get any better than that isn’t it? It gives them massive goose bumps if you mention ‘pyramid scheme’ to them, so let us try to be polite to them by not to mention anything that resembles pyramid or get-rich-scheme. Most of the people that are more likely to approach you with this scam are your friends, relatives or colleagues. I’ve seen how friends become foes because of this shit. I’ve also witness how people fall into the trap because they’ve been ‘possessed’ by the sweet talk of these con artist, and some generous chap simply pay the joining fees just to shut them up. We are not talking about small amount here, the joining fees may range from RM30 to a massive RM3000. I’ve seen them.

Now, on the outskirt, you may want to ask, ‘What differentiate Multi-Level-Marketing and Pyramid Scheme?’ These con artists (CA) will be more than happy to explain it to you if you ask them. But first, they need to gather a group of people (probably between 2-15) before they start explaining to you, so you may feel intimidated by their presence and hopefully prevent you from asking too many questions. It also helps the person who’re explaining to you to tell fake success stories of their counterpart while they are around, so you may feel like some kind of real time experience.

What differerentiate Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) and Pyramid Scheme (PS) can be found in this article at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi_level_marketing

and

http://www.ftc.gov/speeches/other/dvimf16.shtm

CA will tell you that MLM is different because MLM sells product, while PS isn’t. They will also tell you that these items are rare and cannot be found in other market except from them. The product comes at a certain price, usually at an fucking inflated price. Example, a piece of cheap glass with some ‘glowing thing’ cost you around Rm1000. But to get it at that price, you have to be a member of this scam. Now here’s the trick. To join the scam, there is a joining fee you have to pay on top of the mandatory purchase of the Rm1000 shit. The joining fee?, another Rm1000. So, to buy that shit cost you RM2000 alone. What sense does this scam make?

Then the CA will tell you, if you manage to sell these items, you’ll get a commission. The more you sell, the higher the commission. But, who the fuck is going to buy this piece of crap for Rm1000? I’m already broke by buying this shit, how do I expect other people to buy this without asking too much questions? Here’s the marvel of the MLM/PS. Once you get deeper in their organization, meaning more involved in the gatherings or frequently attending the talks, they will tell you EXACTLY what this scam is all about. They will tell that you don’t actually have to sell these things. All you need to do is find another person to join this scam. No need to sell, just ask them to join. The joining fee? RM2000. For every person you managed to sign-up, you’ll get a small amount of commission. The person you’d signed-up is called downline. Then, when the downline managed to sign another person, you’ll also get a share of the commission, until the pyramid becomes bigger and unsustainable. And then they will happily tell you ‘This is how we got rich!’. For every Rm2000 your downline pays to join, they’ll get a product worth about RM200, and you’ll get a commission of around RM500. That RM700 of ‘cost’ the company has to fork out in return of RM1300 to their pocket just from ONE PERSON in the pyramid. Of course you’ll get your share, but compare it to the total amount of the uplines, CEOs, directors, old-timers of this scam get from the thousands of downline that’s been conned, just like you? Think about it. This is a Pyramid Scheme, the product is just a diversion from the real strategy on how they con people.

If this is really business, why the joining fees at the first place? If it is networking, why the product as the core business? Opportunity? What opportunity? Opportunity to become rich? The opportunity is actually for the pioneers, the directors to make millions out of those hopefuls who just came out from a jungle in east Peninsular. If you read the link, it says with mathematics calculation, 88% of the people in the pyramid will loose their money, meaning you, and the 12% will get their return, meaning the directors and the pioneers. Of the probable thousands ringgit you’re going to make if you are really really really lucky , those uplines already made hundred of millions of ringgit from your hard work. For the RM1300 you ‘gave’ them, they’ll return the favour by giving you a ‘box of candy’ of Rm500. WAKE UP MATE!!!

In the next column, I’ll tell you the realities of the pyramid schemes in KL and how to possibly identify a con artist…