Roberta is wonderful. Had her on our podcast!

The FTC is currently considering making changes to its Business Opportunity Rule which could make it more difficult for these scams to fly under their regulatory radar, recruiting using deceptive practices straight out of the BITE model.

Roberta would be the first to tell you how important it is that we do what we can to spread awareness, and currently (through January 24th, 2023), the FTC is accepting public comments on this. I have more info and free resources at http://www.MLMchange.org!

Hi, have you heard that the FTC has sent checks to victims of Herbalife?

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2017/01/ftc-sends-checks-nearly-350000-victims-herbalifes-multi-level-marketing-scheme

Agreed completely. My post was responding to Barbara above me who thought that documentaries on PBS meant Tupperware was not a scam or cult. It may not be, but it definitely is an MLM. Any MLM is a form of pyramid scheme where the top ranks make money off the work of the bottom ranks, and many who join the bottom ranks spend more than they make.

Roberta describes classic love bombing. And then of course there’s being part of an “in” group.

And her story about a woman who was behind on her mortgage but put more money into stock hoping to make a big enough killing on sales to catch up, sounds just like the behavior of problem gamblers. That involves a form of commitment bias, sometimes colloquially known as “throwing good money after bad”. In a similar way, in a large time frame and often non-monetary ways, scientologists will keep investing their time and psychological commitment, though of course the money looms particularly large for many.

And maybe I didn’t explain well but boosting the post means you are paying the social media site to make sure that your post shows up in friends feeds (and public feeds) more frequently than it otherwise would. If you are selling an MLM product you can link your website or product code so that if someone buys something or joins your downline than you get credit through the MLM company. Individual MLM reps are paying social media sites to boost their posts as a way of advertising. MLM companies are constantly pushing reps to share things on social media. The one I was in even had ready made “adds” we could customize – constantly pushing us to do Facebook lives and host online “parties” through social media. And reps quickly learn they can do paid advertising through these sites to boost visibility. Social media sites are also taking advantage of reps and profiting from MLMs. I never made any money from my adds. Fb was constantly sending me offers and deals to spend more money advertising through their site.

When I was in The United States Army there were several veterans of The Second World War still in. Wrongful orders MUST always be questioned.

I just think there are better ways to make money than joining any MLM and also Tupperware products are way overpriced.