Itâs genuinely concerning to me that multilevel marketing companies arenât treated as a mainstream, pressing issue like they should be. Iâve seen so many women (men on rare occasions) scammed by them because nobody teaches them how to identify pyramid schemes. So, Iâve decided to compile a list of common themes Iâve taken note of in my Facebook feed that originate from the girls in MLMs (the ones Iâve seen so far are Plexus, Young Living, Monat, and ItWorks) as well as themes Iâve found in my own research in case any of you come across it and are asked to buy or join:
1.) Youâll often see long Facebook posts from a person involved that make excessive use of emojis (this point might sound silly but itâs very, very relevant). The Facebook posts originating from this person are almost never sad and never delve into their mental health because they simply arenât allowed to act that way. The posts need to be cheery because theyâre often forced into making a positive representation of the MLM they work for. âHow can you be sad when youâre working for a company as amazing as Plexus?â
2.) The posts they make will more often focus on the money to be made working for the company, rather than the products youâll be selling. MLMs have a habit of preying on people who are struggling financially, most notably college students, single mothers and military wives. I myself have been approached by representatives from Plexus and ItWorks with the promise of making more money. âDo you want financial freedom? Do you want to be able quit your 9-5 job and stay home with your kids?â
3. When you join, youâll likely have to buy some sort of âstarter kitâ as a fee for joining (for reference, NO LEGITIMATE BUSINESS will ask you to make any form of payment when signing up to work. If they do, itâs more than likely a scam).
4. Youâll likely have something called an âuplineâ who benefit from your sales and the sales of people below you. Before pyramid schemes were criminalized, their practices were the same, and the ONLY difference with MLMs is the involvement of a product/products: the only way for a new recruit to turn any sort of profit is by recruiting more people to sell, forming a âdownlineâ. The more people you recruit and the more people your recruits recruit, the more money you make. However, the people at the bottom of the line will always face the same situation of not turning a profit. The only way to escape this, again, is to get people to join below you, and the cycle repeats itself.
5. You may get messages from people involved in MLMs that either undermine or boost your confidence as a selling point for their products, things like, âHey girl! Iâm so happy for you and congratulations on your new baby. Are you looking to lose your baby weight? ItWorks has some amazing products that I think you should try.â (Yes, this was a real message that a friend of mine got). Youâll get stuff from people you used to attend high school with that havenât spoken to you in years.
6. When someone you know involved in an MLM makes a post about it, check the profiles of people who make positive and encouraging comments. The majority (if not all of them) are also ambassadors for the same MLM. Whereas you would expect ordinary people to find the post uninteresting and ignore it, these people will leave feedback in order to give the impression that the person involved is doing well and finding success.
7. If the MLM is health/nutrition/supplement based, the person will all of a sudden become an anatomy and health expert. They may post some gross pictures and discuss them in detail, or start talking about the science behind losing weight and getting in shape (and sometimes these posts are excruciatingly long) in order to give the products they sell an aura of scientific legitimacy. However, I have yet to see a post that scientifically explains what the products created by these MLMs do to help people. (This point wouldnât apply to jewelry or clothing MLMs like LulaRoe).Â
If you guys have any points to add, please let me know what Iâm missing. Iâm sure thereâs a lot. We need to teach young people just leaving high school and entering college what to look out for so they arenât at risk of being scammed into losing all of their hard earned money.