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Scam absurdities: "An honest Ponzi" is still illegal (duh)
Those of you who read articles in general may recall something about MMM... If not, here's a TL;DR version:MMM, or Mavrodi's Money Machine, is a fraud company founded by Sergei Mavrodi, his brother...
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Scam Tactic: Deny everything, make up some other reasonable sounding reasons
When confronted with truth that contradicts their world view, MLMers often resort to denial, i.e. "that can't possibly be true". It's motivated reasoning, i.e. thinking with your heart, not with your...
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Scam Psychology: Presumption of hate
One of the more... insidious aspects of MLM is how its members will often NOT listen to "reason", even if it's coming from people they used to trust, like family members and best friends. They are...
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Do You Know Where Your Money Went If You Invested in a Suspect Scheme?
According to court documents made public recently, ZeekRewards ponzi scheme victims may have a longer wait if any money can be recovered, for millions of their money held by payment processor for Zeek...
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Charity MLM? What a joke, and here's proof
Here's a simple and logical premise: MLM and Charity does NOT mix.Think about it. MLM is a MONEY MAKING enterprise, both for the company itself, and for the individual affiliates. Charity is.....
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MLM Basics: Why a MLM Comp Plan is MORE important than the product, not less
One of the biggest mistakes a MLM "noobs" makes is put all the emphasis on the product, without analyzing the business model itself, i.e. the compensation plan, or in jargon, "comp plan". (Or perhaps...
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Scam Absurdities: Birds of a Feather Flock Together, or the Rodrigues and...
There was an old saying: Birds of a Feather, Flock TogetherBasically means: like attracts like.So how does this apply to Ponzi schemes? One needs to look no further than Sanderlay Rodrigues De...
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Is it just series of bad judgment, or "once a thief, always a thief"?
Given that how many of the Ponzi pimps have been around for years, it's quite surprising that people aren't using Google enough and pick up their history.One of the most vocal supporters of OneCoin was...
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Scam Tactics: Indignantly imply everybody else is wrong i.e. Nerium...
skepticism, skeptical inquiry, critical thinking, critical inquiry, and truth-seeking. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)When you see a random claim, do you simply accept it as is, or do you adopt the Reagan...
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How to be an online marketing idiot: arbitrary DMCA takedown notices and SLAPP
English: Very poor sketch of a desired icon for DMCA takedown notices on articles, emphasizing Wikimedia's submission... created for conversation at Commons:Village pump#DMCA takedown templates and...
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Scam Tactics: False citing of legislation or certification authority
Scams, in order to claim false legitimacy, will cite laws, regulations, and licenses to sound official, when they are grossly exaggerating the truth, or are outright lying.Below we will discuss four...
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Scam Spotting: too-good job offer, fake website, and Bitcoins
A redditor recently posted on /r/scams about a too-good-to-be-true job offer:Hi all, I was hoping you could help me figure if this job offer is a scam. So I received an email saying that I had applied...
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BREAKING NEWS: WCM777 smashed AGAIN in China, is Phil Ming Xu in custody?
PatrickPretty.com spotted a news in ShanghaiDaily that a Mr. Xu of "World Capital Market" was arrested by Chinese police for pyramid scheme in China. It appears that Phil Ming Xu of WCM777 has moved...
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Another article of how WCM got smashed in China (AGAIN), translated
Previously #MLMskeptic translated the article from LegalDaily.com.cn about how WCM got smashed. This time we're translating a different article of the same event, with additional...
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Bad Argument: MLM Strawman Arguments Labelled as Mythbusting
A lot of so-called MLM "coaches" write articles to drum up business and recruit downlines, and they have to deal with, what they perceive as "undue criticism" of MLM. However, what they often ended up...
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Scam Psychology: Luck Blindness, or why lucky people see it as skill, not luck
Success is dependent on many different factors, but it can usually be summarized as...be at the right place, at the right time, with the right training to spot the opportunity, and have enough...
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Scam Psychology: "You have to try it to understand it" fallacy
One of the most popular fallacies trotted out by scammers and scammed sheeple is "you have to try it to understand it". It has a cousin known as "you're not in it (so shut up)" argument.Basically, the...
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Mythbusting: The Trump University is based on (some) bogus research
Trump University was in the news a lot, and it seems it may be the only thing that really got Trump riled up, as it's something he can't deny or denigrate... since it's his own. So instead, he...
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Cognitive Bias: Choice Supportive Bias (aka Post-hoc Rationalization)
Previously we have often talked about cognitive dissoance, which is basically when a person is faced with two sets of "truths", and they conflict, therefore one set of which must be false.For example,...
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Commentary: How "Ultimate Guide to Network Marketing" illustrates what's...
I often browse used bookstores, and one day I came across "Ultimate Guide to Network Marketing" edited by Dr. Paul Rubino. As the MLM Skeptic, I read it with a skeptical mind... Overall, I am...
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