Blog | Peter Murphyhttps://www.pkmurphy.com.au/blog/2024-03-28T23:19:41.501352+00:00BlogAn email to multilevel marketeers2013-04-13T12:02:49+00:002024-03-28T23:19:41.501352+00:00pkmurphyhttps://www.pkmurphy.com.au/blog/author/pkmurphy/https://www.pkmurphy.com.au/blog/an-email-to-multilevel-marketeers/<p>About to head to bed, I receive an email from these folk, <a href="http://paidweeklyguaranteed.com/">Paid Weekly Guarateed</a>. It's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing">MLM</a> scam, of course, and their website is a "standard" MLM scam website: bright colours, handwriting fonts, a video or two, promises galore, bad clip art, and an absence of actual detail. The sites are getting shoddier in their grammar, though: <em>EVERYONE That Participates "Get's Paid... PERIOD..."</em> Did they think that up themselves, or was it provided to them?</p>
<p>I've had ads for multilevel marketing schemes in my letterbox, and I've seen flyers pinned on notice boards and taped on bus shelters. I once even got dragged along to an Amway party. (That was a bad deal: the hostess responsible invited people to a barbeque at her place, but didn't inform them that it was a recruitment session as well. I think a few friendships were broken in the process.) However, surprisingly enough, I believe I've never actually received a MLM scam by <em>unsolicited mail</em>. While my spam folder is full of 419s and their ilk, I've never got this sort of marketing email from a stranger.</p>
<p>So I thought I'd email them back.</p>
<p><em>Joe and Sue,</em><br/> <br/><em> I'd like to start this email with a quote by Johnny Rotten (nee Lydon) of the Sex Pistols and PiL. "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjgE4kNSU74">Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?</a>"</em><br/> <br/><em> I hope you're getting this feeling at the moment with the TelexFree scam you emailed me. It hasn't costed me a single penny to reply to you, but ... well, how much has it cost YOU to get involved? $49? $299? I have no idea, but I hope it's preying on my minds.</em><br/> <br/><em> Just letting you know that I've had a few MLM people contact me over the last couple of years. They set up websites and put out flyers for a couple of weeks, and then they disappear. Often their marriages disappear as well, and their money, and their mortgages. Do you really want that to happen to you?</em><br/> <br/><em> This is the only reliable information that I can dig up on the company: <a href="http://behindmlm.com/companies/telexfree-review-spam-the-internet-for-20-a-week/">TelexFree Review: Spam the internet for $20 a week</a>. Selling ads for VOIP? Why would people pay money for that when you have Skype?</em><br/> <br/><em> Walk away, guys. Just walk away.</em><br/> <br/><em> Best regards,</em><br/><em> Peter</em></p>