Avoid the ChumpTrap

America’s ‘Opportunity’ Fraud Expert Interviews Cult Expert

researchingtruth — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:03:07 +0000

Eric Scheibeler, author of Merchants of Deception (and former Amway insider) has an eye-opening talk with Steven Hassan, Cult Expert (and ex-Moonie) about the deceptive, fraudulent and cult-like world of MLMs. They discuss how anyone is susceptible to being drawn in to today’s modern day, every-man cult– what Scheibeler describes as “the silent epidemic in America”… Scheibeler also uses himself as an example of how it is possible to break free of these destructive mindsets. I think you’ll want to watch all three parts of this interview:

Please >Digg this video!

Landmark Education and MLMs: From one cult to another

researchingtruth — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:55:38 +0000

Through my research on MLMs and thought reform seminars (Large Group Awareness Training- LGAT) I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend of LGAT graduates starting up their own ‘boot camps’ aimed at marketing themselves as top network marketers helping you get leads and be better at network marketing for your MLM business… But only after revealing their ‘secret of success’- going to an LGAT such as The Landmark Forum or Landmark Education trainings.

I refer to these thought reform groups, or LGATs as cult-like, cultic, money cults, and sometimes outright cults. Mainly because they use a one-size-fits all thought reform method of breaking you down then building you back up. And because there is the risk of severe psychological damage that can (and have) lead to lawsuits and suicides (< an ex-Forum member tells a story.) Besides Landmark, there are tons of them (unfortunately) thriving all over North America and other countries around the world. To keep this post simple I will only refer to Landmark, but I am certainly aware of many other groups based on Werner Erhard’s est “technology”, partially derived from Scientology, and will write more about those in another post. Or I just may altogether start a new blog devoted to LGATs.

Back to my point. The disturbing trend. It seems that Landmark has a program in its advanced course for students to set a goal of success. Design an ‘extraordinary life’ for themselves. Start something from nothing. Within all of that, they have already been programmed to share with the world the great ‘gift’ of ‘possibility’. Don’t keep the secret to yourself. Meaning, get everyone to ‘enroll’ with Landmark, but don’t tell them what actually happens during the ‘workshops’. These graduates don’t get a commission for recruiting anyone, that’s not Landmark’s goal. The goal is to transform and brainwash as many people as possible to go out and spread the word, all the while taking thousands of dollars from new enrollees. Members that don’t meet recruiting quota will remain a lower status on the LGAT totem pole, further encouraging them to spread their ‘happiness’ and ‘breakthroughs’ by posting YouTube videos and blogs talking about how they were already successful in life, but used to be angry, or defiant and now, thanks to Landmark Education, they have ‘freed’ themselves from that part of themselves (the emotional part?) and are now able to get whatever they want in life without getting in their own way.

So now some of them are out creating their extraordinary life by scamming people without a guilty conscience. Lovely.

> Want to see examples of these people at work?

Blastoff asking Canadians to work for free?

researchingtruth — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:14:56 +0000

Apparently Blastoff can’t pay the Canadians, but they’re asking Canadian members to go ahead and grow their networks anyway, and they won’t be able to claim their own share of the cash-back rewards the down-lines bring in until the virtual cross-border shopping ‘glitch’ is sorted out with their lawyers which may take 3-6 months, says Blastoff… Apparently there is also some confusion as to whether or not Canadian members will be paid retroactively once it’s sorted (that is, if it’s ever sorted out).

So in the meantime, the Canadians are encouraged to hang in there, keep shopping, grow their networks, while Blastoff gets all the commissions and is admittedly unsure at this time whether or not the Canadians will be paid for all their efforts. (??)

> http://getsatisfaction.com/blastoff/topics/what_happens_to_u_s_people_that_sign_up_under_a_canadian

However, I’d like to know if anyone has been paid yet…

What do Blastoff, churches, fundraising, whips and vibrators have in common?

researchingtruth — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:22:04 +0000

Took me a while to notice this, but it turns out Blastoff’s ‘direct contact’ with Henry & June, retailer for the sexually adventurous, got them in a bit of trouble with certain members while it was still in ‘beta’ mode. Bill Rodgers jumps in to save Blastoff’s image by calling it an oversight and the retailer has been removed. An oversight?… I guess he’ll say anything to stay in the good graces of the church and public schools. Keep those fundraisers going kiddies!

Meanwhile Blastoff continues to disintegrate behind the scenes as they are now currently using Jango Mail to keep pushing that urge to shop to all their members via email blasts. Apparently they are still unable to get new invitees signed up and are hoping to make up for lost revenue. I guess they still haven’t resolved the black-listing problems. Some million dollar investment!

(If the ‘bit of trouble’ link goes dead I’ve attached a screen shot for your viewing pleasure)

Wanna start your own cult?

researchingtruth — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:17:19 +0000

It’s so easy it’s scary!

Watch this video for a dark and twisted (and largely accurate) take on what I’m currently researching for upcoming posts…

Don’t fall for the BlastoffNetwork.com trap

researchingtruth — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:57:54 +0000

Unless you think making a handful of chumps rich is your idea of a good home-based business opportunity. These handful of chumps may include names such as Bill Rodgers, and Harland Stonecipher. Note that the sheeple who praise them (and the lord) are of the ‘following’ type, they’d rather be part of a congregation that all believe in the same things rather than thinking for themselves… Followers of Christ and followers of anything/anyone else that will take them by the hand and promise to lead them to a life of freedom and riches. These are the types of people Bill & Harland market to, because they know they can get people easily sucked in with just the right scripted persuasion. Then these suckers will go out like pre-programmed robots and recruit more suckers.

Blastoff is just the latest tactic to gather as much money as possible from these people. Not for the greater good, or to make me, my friends and my family rich and prosperous. But simply to make themselves rich. The family member I had mentioned in my previous post had of course approached me to ‘get on board’ with this thing. And they even spammed two of my personal accounts and my Facebook account. I later discovered that Blastoff actually had a video tutorial specifically detailing members on how to spam their contacts. And now their ip has been black-listed all over the place as a result! I also stumbled upon a discussion forum noting how Blastoff had initially registered a hidden ip through GoDaddy (perhaps hoping this would prevent the black-listing issue?), along with some other interesting discrepancies regarding their domain registration, such as a two year domain registration, suggesting the people behind this venture don’t expect to keep it around long.

I could go on about the inner workings of the BlastOff Network and how they’ve been misrepresenting their portal site and their affiliation to the retailers, but I’ve found some links to other people who explain it much better than I would, so have at it, educate yourself:

> Here’s a blog where the author articulately journals their own experience from the beginning of the hype

> Here’s a guy explaining how Blastoff really works

> And if you’re interested in perusing the plethora of technical problems and ignorance members are enduring from the Blastoff Team, check out Blastoff’s GetSatisfaction.com’s customer support forum.

That oughtta sum this one up. But before you leave, please consider helping to stop these MLM & pyramid schemes by signing the petition to Congress to investigate the FTC.

Don’t ask your friends & family to join Pre-Paid Legal Services

researchingtruth — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:42:26 +0000

Pre-Paid Legal is one of the longest running pyramid schemes around. > A recent investigative report on its imminent collapse. And I’ve been asked by a family member to join. Of course I said “no thanks”, endured the “it’s not what you think (a scam)” spiel, then proceeded to do my own research, my due diligence… There’s plenty of history of lawsuits and complaints out there that one would think would be enough of a deterrent to stay away from the scheme. Unfortunately a lot of people choose to ignore and continue on recruiting, preying upon those at their genuinely weakest moments when really these recruiters have nothing more than a genuine agenda of building up their own down-lines. And yes, it has been a hard lesson to learn this with my own family member. Best I can do is not communicate with them until they shake free of this destructive mind set, hopefully it won’t take too long. We’ll see.

Coincidentally, some of the people behind PPL seem to have partnered with a new venture in hopes of recruiting more associates via the Blastoff Network. Or maybe they’re just trying to stock up on cash to buy themselves out for the umpteenth time. I’ll write more about the so-far disastrous Blastoff “next best thing to hit the internet” in another post.

In the meantime, I’ve attached some links to help educate you in what’s going on with the Pre-Paid Legal cult/racket.

Most recently:

> PrePaid Legal & the FTC make news again

> The evangelistic misrepresentations made by PrePaid Legal’s CEO, Stonecipher. Report by YouTube’s FraudDiscovery

> A former US Attorney unveils the fraud

Pre-Paid has a history of buying back its own shares to stay alive, and conveniently weathering lawsuits and federal investigations.

> PrePaid Toll Mounts

> Verdict Hammers PrePaid

> PrePaid Weathers Guilty Verdict

> PrePaid Legal Insurance- Justice for All?

> Attorney General’s Office Nets Refunds From Multi-Level Marketer

After reading all this, one would wonder how they stay in business. Well we’ll have to ask the FTC. Better yet, sign the petition to Congress to investigate the FTC.

Cheers to an MLM-pyramid scheme-cult-free life!
Stick with honest work and believing in yourself no matter how hard things can get. Don’t let recruiters intimidate you by saying “you must not want to make money” or “you must not want to live to your fullest potential”. Intimidation is not a loving way to treat your friends or family.

Would you trust these people?

researchingtruth — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:54:17 +0000

There are some seriously shady people out there making cheesy little YouTube videos in an attempt to make whatever it is their pushing go viral. Usually they’re pushing a way to get rich quick, a way to retire early, a way to get that fancy new car you’ve always dreamed of, a way to take your dream vacation, a way to make money while you sleep…

These chumps always have a link to their recruitment sign-up page, usually at the end of the video or at the Info section of the YouTube posting. These ‘alluring’ links and/or tags often contain catch words like: millions, money, dreams, success, leads, cashflow, residual income, business opportunity, revenue share… you get the idea. The scheme is to get the viewer excited and want to sign up to their MLM scam, networking scam, pyramid scam, or even Ponzi scams. The sad thing is that there are plenty of vulnerable people out there, especially in our current economy crisis, falling for these traps. Usually resulting in, more often than not, silence on their part after they eventually realized they’ve been scammed.

I’ve posted some of these YouTube videos for your viewing pleasure and education. Notice how they often have their comments disabled to avoid dealing with rebuttals that might reveal their scam. Some have comments which they might even try and argue because they truly believe themselves that what they’re doing is running a legitimate business. They have already fallen victim to the mind control tactics used to keep them recruiting, and some people are deep in it.

Would you trust this guy?
Anyone with posture and gestures like this guy is just putting on a show, and clearly enjoying the (cheesy) spotlight.

This woman wants to counsel you on your fears.
She seems sweet, introducing you to her family and such, but she wants to remind you that you shouldn’t let your internal fears stop you from succeeding, and then pitches her 7 day boot camp on how to get leads. Have a great day now, bye bye!

Meet Coach Kenny. He has a disclaimer: This is not a professional video.
No sh**t, give a brotha a break! After he introduces you to his family and talks about how blessed his life is, he pits one MLM scam against another, of course he wants you to sign up with the other one.

The homemade commercial: Acting that deserves… some kind of award.
Classic scenario of breaking out the sales pitch when a loved one is down and out. I can’t believe the girl’s own mother put her up to making this highly laughable video.