MLM Scam? Certainly looks that way...

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 1

Last week Thursday, I was contacted on Facebook by a former classmate of mine who I hadn't talked to in roughly a year. Turns out he said he was in a "business venture" in California that would like to "expand" to our home state of Wisconsin. Naturally I was a bit skeptical, but I told him to go ahead and give me a call later that day. He did get a hold of me by phone about an hour later, and much to my relief, it was really that person and not some scambot. However, he went into some small detail about this "business venture" which included name-dropping Donald Trump and this company's exploits on Celebrity Apprentice last year. He said the name of the company was ACN, which I had never heard of before, raising yet another red flag. Anyway, he said he'd call me later in a conference call with a "partner" of his. So he got a hold of me about an hour later with his buddy on the other line, and he gave me the standard scammer line of making easy money from home based on getting other people in the business with me and "selling a service which everyone uses". Again, another red flag. At the end of the call, this guy said he'd send me links to this business (I'll link to those at the end of this message), and asked for me to call either him or my original contact after reading through those links. That lead to me reading through the links, and sure enough, right in the middle of a video on the third link sent to me showed your basic pyramid/MLM scam. I called my original contact back and asked him point blank if there was a startup cost, to which he replied there was, $499 US, that was all I needed to hear, as I started to tell the guy no at every turn, but he wouldn't give up, said he'd mail me a magazine in the next week, which arrived today.

Here are the links as emailed to me:
Here's what Donald Trump has to Say: http://www.acninc.com/acn/us/acn-trump.html

Here a glimpse into the company: http://www.jmh.acnrep.com/g_opportunity_buspres_video.asp?CO_LA=US_EN&BW=

Here is the Business Overview: http://www.jmh.acnrep.com/g_opportunity_presentation_cupisz.asp?CO_LA=US_EN&BW=

Our corporate site is www.acninc.com

For Products go to www.myacn.com

What concerns me most of all is the use of friends/old friends/acquaintances/family members to bait others into this bogus business venture.

I know you guys don't typically deal in MLM/Pyramid schemes as far as baiting goes, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to get the word out on this one if noone has heard of it yet.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 94

These MLM schemes are pretty nasty. They typically pump up those who join with a bunch of ra-ra B.S. and con them by selling them "training systems". EVERYONE successfull in MLM got there by selling cds and videos to those signed up below them. Check out amquix.info for the lowdown on amway/quixtar. This is a new one, so I'm not real familiar with it, but I'd bet my right arm it works the same way. The worst part is your friend is not a con-man, but a victim. If you try to tell him you'll only tick him off and his sponsor will chastize him for listening to "stinking thinking". You can download the book "Merchants of Deception" By Eric Shiebler for free. Gives good insight into how these things work.

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 10:21 pm

Merchants of Deception (Amway/Quixtar) - http://www.merchantsofdeception.com

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 11:46 am

I have heard of ACN before, My sister called me about a new business venture that she was getting into bla bla bla, she had been suckered into paying the $500 to join. I told them I would check out the meeting which they were having at a hotel near to where I live, I went there with my cousin and had a few laughs at the way they were trying to "pump" us up and the other suckers who had signed up were cheering and clapping at every word the speaker said. They made it sound like within a few months you could be making so much money. Why don't people get it that those schemes make money off the suckers that sign up, thats how it works.

They showed me their contract, and in the fine print I noticed that you have to pay $500 every year to stay in the program. and if you dont pay then you lose all benefits.

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 2:12 am

Just another Donald Trump scam.. Every few years he goes bankrupt.

Just up the hill from my place, Trump "Sold His Name" to use on a golf course.

He had nothing to do with the course, and it finally went bankrupt.

Nothing worse than a fake like Trump..

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