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How to convince my friend that he is part of a scheme
Grundlterror
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I had someone call me the other day and wanted to interview me, telling me that my friend from HP (when I used to work there) recommended me. I figured this would have to do something with computers or the like, but it seems to me like some sort of pyramid scheme. He told me that most of the work will be done from home and I'd be doing 5 - 10 hours of work a week and I would go through some sort of "program" that would take 12 - 18 months.
Basically the way it was set up is that it's affiliate marketing where consumers buy things through their website. They never told me how exactly what I would be doing, it was just a quick overview and there's a meeting on Thursday where they will tell me about their "business plan". I didn't think about it at the time, but this is really smelling fishy to me. The name on the flier was "i-commerce".
I've told my friend that I am not going to be dropping any money on this scheme, and that I think it's a pyramid scheme... but I'll come check out this "banquet meeting" out of curiosities sake. I was actually kinda freaked out when he tried to convince me (the exact same way the recruiter tried) that it wasn't a pyramid scheme. He said he's been working there for weeks and "hasn't gotten his paycheck yet."
My question is... is he being tricked here? I'm fairly certain he is, everything on the internet seems to point to it being a scheme... but no one has actually gone through with it and done a report on it. How can I convince him that he's wasting his time/money?
TL;DR - I'm pretty sure my friend is in a pyramid scheme (i-commerce) and he's trying to get me to join up. How do I make him see the light?
Basically the way it was set up is that it's affiliate marketing where consumers buy things through their website. They never told me how exactly what I would be doing, it was just a quick overview and there's a meeting on Thursday where they will tell me about their "business plan". I didn't think about it at the time, but this is really smelling fishy to me. The name on the flier was "i-commerce".
I've told my friend that I am not going to be dropping any money on this scheme, and that I think it's a pyramid scheme... but I'll come check out this "banquet meeting" out of curiosities sake. I was actually kinda freaked out when he tried to convince me (the exact same way the recruiter tried) that it wasn't a pyramid scheme. He said he's been working there for weeks and "hasn't gotten his paycheck yet."
My question is... is he being tricked here? I'm fairly certain he is, everything on the internet seems to point to it being a scheme... but no one has actually gone through with it and done a report on it. How can I convince him that he's wasting his time/money?
TL;DR - I'm pretty sure my friend is in a pyramid scheme (i-commerce) and he's trying to get me to join up. How do I make him see the light?
Grundlterror on
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Googling Quixtar or Amway should give you all of the ammunition you need. Good luck.
Out of curiosity, how much are they claiming you get for your 5-10 hours of work a week? And regardless, "banquet meetings" where they tell you their "business plan" are a terrible, terrible sign.
3-4k a month, 12 months down the line.... which is obviously ridiculous.
I was so damn disappointed when I found out this wasn't going to be a straight forward job... I need money and he was all like "Yeah, we can work around your schedule" when I told him I'm a full time student. What a bastard. Made me get all dressed up and then gives me this bullshit, as soon as he pulled out his flier I just stared him down and gave him polite answers for a while.
/vent off
My friend is the type of person who would be sucked into things like this, I think I helped him narrowly miss something similar a few years ago.
Show him this and type in internet speedway into their search for other similar results:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/284/RipOff0284151.htm
We feigned that we weren't sure about anything, and milked the guy for three lunches before telling him to piss off.
Give me a break.
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/primamerica.php
This website has decent testimonials about their recruiting tactics - Your best bet to convince your friend would be to find a similar website for the company he's "working" (volunteering?) for. Failing that, try and show him the similarities in the Primerica business model - very, very few people suceed.
go to the banquet, feign interest, get free food.
Thats what Id do.
Don't even bother going. My wife got invited to one of these things a while back and when I told her it was a scheme, she told her friend that she wasn't able to go. I'd rather eat cold KD than have to sit through a business banquet dinner anyday.
I did the Amway thing when I was 18 for like, a month. It's retarded and those meetings made me think of a cult every time I went. However, as long as you realize it's all about mass manipulation, there's no harm in going. I found it amusing how easily everyone was controlled by the speaker.
Thing is, your friend is probably going to have to realize it's a waste of time on his own.
Hope you can get your friend out.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Some people do make money of these schemes...they people who started them and people who are extremely good at manipulating people.
Someone tried to draw me into one of these pyramid schemes. It was based on selling bogus pills to old people. Combining the pyramid scheme with the placebo effect..... evil genius at its finest. Of course, no one connected to it would tell you anything except the miracles of these pills, and the scientific proof and personal testimonials.....there was a room full of people just swallowing that bullshit whole.
I can only assume the people truly making money off that scheme are manufacturing the pills and know damn well they don't do anything.
Should provide some backing to your calim.
Battle.net: Fireflash#1425
Steam Friend code: 45386507
The thing is this guy is probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet... he is very very trusted and relied upon among his friends, so I think he might actually have success with this while screwing over some of his friends.
I've decided to definitely not go to the banquet, it's just not worth it.... even if there is free food and a chance to catch up with my old buddy.
As to that fundamentalist comment, it doesn't really look that much different from these mass meetings:
This pretty much sums it up.
I got a little into this (didn't drop the entry/business fee) before realizing what I was doing.
I had to call and make a few apologies, but I'm glad I got out before I started sinking $$$ into nothing.
Calculate how many hours he's wasted on this crap, and show him how much he would've made already with a LEGIT job.
Someone tried to get me into one where the product being sold was an instruction manual on how to sell more copies of the instruction manual through your "network" (i.e. pyramid).
Any system where the people ahead of you primarily get their money by signing you and others up, and getting money for setting you up in the business, and not by providing a good or service to the actual consumer, this is a bad business model that will drain your time and energy and likely lead to no profit whatsoever.
Logical wake up call for people: Why would a business REQUIRE you to pay them money, so that you can start making money??? Hello... If they were so confident in their business, they would have no problem giving you the start up package for free. They call it a pyramid scheme for a reason. The base is the grunts/foundation that supports the very few people/bricks at the top.
NOTE: There are people that CAN make decent money off of this. But, you have to be a salesman at heart and be willing to spend A LOT of time into it.
My cousin is in one of these, and she does it as her full time job and is able to support herself. She is not rich or anything, but she can fully support herself and her kids. She does put a lot of time into it.