Mission Statement
In recent decades, pyramid schemes have become an insidious, pervasive and corrupting influence in the marketplace and community, causing financial and social harm on a global scale.
Since 1980 a new form of sales and marketing, called multi-level marketing or network marketing, has spread worldwide and spawned an explosion of pyramid sales schemes involving tens of millions of consumers. The line between legal forms of network marketing and fraudulent pyramid programs is a point of Read More…
Enough Is Enough. It’s Time for Action!
No more denial, shame or embarrassment. No more confusion. No more blaming the victim. No more resignation. And absolutely no more fear.
Pyramid Scheme Alert is the first consumer organization to confront the abuses and trickery of pyramid scheme perpetrators.
Pyramid Scheme Alert is a non-profit, privately supported (by memberships and donations), all-volunteer,
Read More…
Resources
Despite the volume of lies and hype flowing from multi-level marketing schemers there is more valid, research-based and whistle-blower information available today than ever before. The truth is emerging.
As in the cases of Enron, the lethal cigarette industry, bank and mortgage frauds and the Madoff ponzi scheme, the truth about multi-level marketing is taking time to emerge but the truth inevitably prevails. As the Links offered here show, the number of activists is growing. Major Read More…
Consumer Report Now Available:
What is this Thing called Multi-Level Marketing?
This new article by Robert L. FitzPatrick is an economic “portrait” of multi-level marketing (MLM) in the USA. The report has compiled and analyzed the data on three of the oldest and largest MLM companies, Amway, Herbalife and Nu Skin in a readable and understandable way to paint a recognizable picture. Together, these three constitute 10% of the entire MLM operations in America and serve as representatives of all others. About 1.5 million Americans are signed up in them each year. Most quit within a year. The report shows shocking loss rates among participants and an extreme transfer of money to the 1% at the top. The study also examines the potential for “retail” sales by distributors, which turn out to be non-existent. Finally, the report examines the financial chances of success of a new recruit joining any of the three today.
If you have an interest in seeing this report, contact us.
FTC Asked to Halt “Pay-to-Play” Rules in Herbalife and all MLMs
Pyramid Scheme Alert has sent a formal letter to the FTC chairperson and the head of the Consumer Protection Bureau asking the FTC to ban Herbalife from "effectively requiring purchases" by its recruits that are tied to its promised "unlimited rewards". This would...
read moreMLM, Advocare, Is Focus of ESPN Exposé on Misleading Sports Endorsements and False Income Claims
The sports network, ESPN, has published a major investigation of the involvement of some sports stars as endorsers of a "multi-level marketing" scheme, called Advocare International, offering evidence of bogus medical claims and misleading income promises. The most...
read moreBritish Media Discover MLM Using National Health Service for Recruiting
In a recent article in the Sunday Times, journalist, Robin Henry, reports that a USA-based MLM, called Forever Living Products (FLP), has infiltrated the UK's public health system and its recruiters are using the tax-paid healthcare program as a cover for promoting...
read moreDocumentary Finally Gives a Voice to Latinos Being Duped by Herbalife
The Terrible Truth About Multi-Level Marketing
Read the latest news and analysis about pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing in the "Update" newsletter published by Pyramid Scheme Alert. The latest Update analyzes the "terrible truth" about the ways in which ALL the hundreds of "MLM" companies, aka...
read moreTalk Fusion: Red Flags and New Items of Interest
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Talk Fusion. This DSA member is accused of running a pyramid fraud.
read more