Here, we are discussing a very much widespread scamming method in my country. I am going to talk about the so-called Multiple Level Marketing (MLM) businesses that has caught frenzy amongst the Indian youth looking for ways to make money quick and easy. This post is to let the poeple know how these scammers work and how people fall into their traps .having come across many first-person accounts of the victim experiences, I am going to share them here.
How do the scammers operate?
Now, to make the people invest in your scam business, you need to induce them into believing that this is a legitimate business. For this, the scammers make a plot that would make even the most intelligent and cleverest of people fall into their traps. They present the investors with brochures, catalogs etc. printed with fabricated details about their company. Mostly these companies are depicted as a start-up company that manufactures an innovative product that is bound to be sold in high demand in the market. They then ask you to become an early investor so that you get the most shares and can make quick profit.
These scammers are so well prepared with their videos explaining their project. Their audio clips have the elegance of an RJ. I am sure that their presentation skills would give Steve Jobs a run for his money.
Seduced by the offers, people fall into their traps. Most of the times, the initial investment required is small. So, even the ordinary folk are willing to take the risk and test their luck. The scammers who are looking for larger investments are keen to expand their horizon and take advantage of the ripple effect amongst the people tries to gain the trust of the primary investors. To gain their trust, the scammers start to give a good percentage of money to the initial investors, possibly from their own pockets. The people falling for their trick think that this is a legit true and profitable business and are tempted to invest more in the hope of getting better returns.
The Virus Spreads
The scamming doesn’t stop with the primary investors. Every investor taking part in the so-called project becomes a part of the scam involuntarily. They are told that if they can add more investors under their belt, the recruiter can get a share of the new recruit's profits. So, in order to increase their profits, these people turn themselves into advertising agencies for the scammer company. They spread the word from locality to locality, in the neighborhoods as much as they can about this new found venture. This leads to the influx of more people into the scam who deposits their money trusting their friends who recruited them. These new investors too get used as advertisers by the scammers. They wait for more and more people to come in till the deposits are heavy to their liking.
Then the Doom happens
One day after amassing a lot of crowdfunded money, sufficient to their satisfaction, these scammers disappear into thin air without informing anyone. The investors might not be aware of it at the very moment but the eventually find out that these men are missing. In desperation, they try to contact these people with the contact addresses they were provided only to find out that it’s not their true identity nor addresses. Eventually, they realize the fact that they have been scammed. The investors on the lower tier confront the ones on the upper tier who recruited them. As expected, they quarrel and fight with each other leading to distrust and enmity amongst friends and family.
As all these happens, the scammers are ready to set up their next false business venture and start trapping innocent people into their well-woven webs.
My advice is that always go through a thorough investigation about the credibility, history, and whereabouts of a company before investing. Also, there is no shortcut to success. Anything that comes with an easy path might have the most unexpected bend in it.Most high return businesses are the most vulnerable and risky ones.
