How to spot a pyramid scheme - Stacie Bosley

Learn the techniques and tricks that pyramid schemes use to recruit new members and how to avoid being fooled yourself.

--

In 2004, a nutrition company offered a life-changing opportunity to earn a full-time income for part-time work. There were only two steps to get started: purchase a $500 kit and recruit two more members. By 2013, the company was making $200 million. There was just one problem -- the vast majority of members earned less than they paid in. Stacie Bosley explains what a pyramid scheme is and how to spot one.

Lesson by Stacie Bosley, directed by Wooden Plane Productions.

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Mrinalini, Anthony Kudolo, Scott Gass, Querida Owens, Hazel Lam, Manav parmar, Dwight Tevuk, Siamak H, Dominik Kugelmann, Mary Sawyer, David Rosario, Samuel Doerle, Susan Herder, Savannah Scheelings, Prasanth Mathialagan, Yanira Santamaria, Dawn Jordan, Kevin Wong, Goh Xiang Ting Diana, Cristóbal Moenne, MJ Tan Mingjie, Yansong Li, Jason A Saslow, Joanne Luce, Kyle Nguyen, Taylor Hunter, Noa Shore, Lex Azevedo, Merit Gamertsfelder, Bev Millar, Rishi Pasham, Jhuval , SookKwan Loong, Bruno Pinho, Javier Aldavaz, Rodrigo Carballo, Boytsov Ilya, EdoKun, Misaki Sato, Craig Sheldon, Andrew Bosco, Catherine Sverko, Nik Maier, Mark Morris, Adi V, Peter Liu, Leora Allen, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Michal Salman and Gilly.

[mrplop]

When you said fight fire with fire I thought you were gonna tell us to start our own pyramid scheme

[babagee]

"I used to be in that chair you guys sitting right now"

[arturomillan]

I absolutely bursted out laughing when she said to send the video to three people you know. Brilliant!

[Infernaladmiral]

You know what's worse than being a victim of pyramid scheme and loosing your money? Loosing friendship and relationships over it.

[allergictohumansnotanimals]

At a pyramid scheme meeting:

“I used to be like you once.”

[trevormccarron]

the sad part is if i show this to people caught in mlm they’ll just say “oh well the one i’m in is legitimate”

[NoriMori]

I fell for a gifting group once. Even though it had the exact same structure as a pyramid scheme, the difference in context and stated purpose was enough for me to not see it. Fortunately I only sent one gift before one of my Facebook friends who I tried to share it with pointed out that it was a scam. That's the only time I ever fell for a scam, and I fell for it so publicly too, so it was really embarrassing.

[harshitagrawal]

Can we take a moment to applaud the animation. Just brilliant!👏🏼👏🏼

[giraudy]

The biggest sign is when they say “Wanna Be Your Own Boss?”

[henrykjohn]

When someone:
- wraps their arm round you
- tells you about an exciting business opportunity
- reassures you it's not a pyramid scheme, even though you don't have such concerns
- is an old high school friend

It's a pyramid scheme

[gavinlamp]

I once had a "customer" at work ask me how a product worked. So I explained it to her. She then told me I had great salesman skills, and offered me a job interview for selling "Insurance." I figured it would be at an office somewhere. We did a webcam interview. The only problem was her "partner" didn't show his face, and kept trying to amp me up about how much money I would be making. Every time I asked about what kind of insurance I'd be selling, he'd dodge the question instantly with "We will get to that, but first you need to build a team, and recruit some more members." I immediately figured it was a pyramid scheme. But I didn't understand how he'd get money off of me, until he said that I needed to pay him $200 for a "license." Sadly, this isn't the first time someone has tried to "recruit" me, for something suspicious. One of my coworkers fell for this with hair cleaning products and ended up losing thousands of dollars.

[confusioned]

Pro tip for everyone: If someone tries to get you to sell something and they say it's a MLM, just leave instantly, it's 100% either a scam or a pyramid scheme

[insolentish]

Red flag: Someone from highschool you haven't talked to in years hits you up randomly

[CaiqueBrite]

Red flag (MLM): When the primary goal seems to be find more sellers rather than consumers.

[jollycooperation]

Had this almost happen to my mom. I had to convince her NOT to do it. Oh did it take a lot of talking, math, and explaining. Someone asking for money to be put into a "pot" like a card table is a big red flag. Then asking 6-8 more people to do the same so you can start your own "pot" is another huge red flag.
She tried getting me to do it, not even 2 minutes of her explaining it, I figured it to be a pyramid scheme.

[nprm]

As a former member of such a scheme, I can say that it's quality content. The calculations seem to work out when presented to you until they just don't ...

[thecitizenoftheinternet]

Keywords:

- Be your own boss
- Passive income
- Entrepreneur
- I used to be like you... (insert a heartbreaking sob story)
- Business opportunity
- No college or university degree needed
- Make money online
- Only available for a limited time
- Make 10K a month while sitting on a couch
- Quit your job
- Motivation
- Investing
- Positivity
- This is DEFINELY NOT a pyramid scheme!

[debeddagreat]

"we are not selling products, we are going to sell *OPPORTUNITIES* "

[PurplePinkRed]

Red flag: Someone who is a mere acquaintance starts becoming more friendly with you completely out of the blue, then they invite you to a Zoom meeting or real meeting about "building a better lifestyle" within weeks.

[maymenar]

I wish I would’ve knew this this time last year .. being in one of there’s things damn near ruined my life . I look back and cringe at how brainwashed I was .. so embarrassing once you realize what happened to you . So depressing once you realize youre never going to “ make 10, 000 a month online working part time” I’m honestly still recovering . Really it’s because they got me at my lowest point . Single mom working 2 jobs to make ends meet little to no time spent raising my child because I have to work so that we can survive . Me knowing I’m a hard worker I was told by this company that if I just worked hard enough, if I just wanted it bad enough it would happen for me . Well I worked hard, and definitely wanted it bad enough and it didn’t work out and I lost almost everything. The company shut down right when I was about to reach 2000$ a month ..