Pyramid fraud: ED attaches assets worth Rs 757 crore of Amway India

[Desmond]

sarcasm

Not really, because I went on the behest of a family member. I thought that I could tolerate the seminar if it meant going on a tour later. But out of the one week I was there, I only got one day free to roam the city. Rest of the time was spent in some huge arena where some members come and talk about how they were dedicated, never lost hope despite losing money, trash talking people who have regular jobs, flaunting all the houses and cars they bought with the money they made, etc. I found their elitist attitude offensive. They even got the lady who climbed mount everest with amputated legs (forgot her name) to come and speak. Seminars start at 7 am in the morning up to 11 pm in the night, so had to wake up at 4 am for breakfast and leave the hotel at around 5:30 am, so I used to get a total of about 4 hours of sleep every day.

All of this just to convince me to join up by my family member.

Though I did get to meet @thetechfreak while I was there, so there was some highlight to my visit. And the one free day I got I visited the museum but didn't get time to see much else.

 

[Desmond]

no but i was shown many pics of it and the first person who i met talked about it. i think it was in 2011 or 2012. that person wanted me to "invest" some 5-6 lakhs or more in it. i didn't had that much to spare as in 2010 we spent whatever we had on my mother's treatment during her hospitalization and it was still going on then. during the talks i was able to extract how it will be INVESTED. i thanked him for the opportunity and returned back. when my mother asked what was it? i told her it was an Uchakka gang.
later 2 more people tried to convince me, one asked me to invest some 30-50000 (on the phone call) and the other 3 lakhs (in cafe coffee day). here they had mobile numbers of people working with banks etc. so that if required, a new INVESTOR could get a loan as well. i actually went there to meet some junior. when some senior investors tried to convince me, i told them this greed for money is waste, its just an illusion. you people need to rise above this falsity and do some work for oppresed people instead of wasting money in places like CCD. just go out and see how many people are poor and hungry out here in our city. they never called again.

Just like them to be manipulative. Everything about what they do looks like a cult.

 

[Nerevarine]

Not really, because I went on the behest of a family member. I thought that I could tolerate the seminar if it meant going on a tour later. But out of the one week I was there, I only got one day free to roam the city. Rest of the time was spent in some huge arena where some members come and talk about how they were dedicated, never lost hope despite losing money, trash talking people who have regular jobs, flaunting all the houses and cars they bought with the money they made, etc. I found their elitist attitude offensive. They even got the lady who climbed mount everest with amputated legs (forgot her name) to come and speak. Seminars start at 7 am in the morning up to 11 pm in the night, so had to wake up at 4 am for breakfast and leave the hotel at around 5:30 am, so I used to get a total of about 4 hours of sleep every day.

All of this just to convince me to join up by my family member.

Though I did get to meet @thetechfreak while I was there, so there was some highlight to my visit. And the one free day I got I visited the museum but didn't get time to see much else.

my reaction is my profile picture

 

[RumbaMon19]

Not really, because I went on the behest of a family member. I thought that I could tolerate the seminar if it meant going on a tour later. But out of the one week I was there, I only got one day free to roam the city. Rest of the time was spent in some huge arena where some members come and talk about how they were dedicated, never lost hope despite losing money, trash talking people who have regular jobs, flaunting all the houses and cars they bought with the money they made, etc. I found their elitist attitude offensive. They even got the lady who climbed mount everest with amputated legs (forgot her name) to come and speak. Seminars start at 7 am in the morning up to 11 pm in the night, so had to wake up at 4 am for breakfast and leave the hotel at around 5:30 am, so I used to get a total of about 4 hours of sleep every day.

All of this just to convince me to join up by my family member.

Though I did get to meet @thetechfreak while I was there, so there was some highlight to my visit. And the one free day I got I visited the museum but didn't get time to see much else.

Which City was the seminar in? Was it free? Cause looking at how these work, they might as well have charged excess for seminar and earned huge profit off attendees.

 

[Desmond]

Which City was the seminar in?

Bangkok.

Was it free?

No. Left a ~1 lakh rupees hole in my pocket. Mostly the cost was for flight ticket, hotel accommodations and conveyance IIRC (didn't get bill so don't know what the breakdown is). I travelled around March 2019 so visa fees were exempt.

Again, I was just looking forward to the trip, the seminar was more of an annoyance to put up with for a while.

 

[vidhubhushan]

Not really, because I went on the behest of a family member. I thought that I could tolerate the seminar if it meant going on a tour later. But out of the one week I was there, I only got one day free to roam the city. Rest of the time was spent in some huge arena where some members come and talk about how they were dedicated, never lost hope despite losing money, trash talking people who have regular jobs, flaunting all the houses and cars they bought with the money they made, etc. I found their elitist attitude offensive. They even got the lady who climbed mount everest with amputated legs (forgot her name) to come and speak. Seminars start at 7 am in the morning up to 11 pm in the night, so had to wake up at 4 am for breakfast and leave the hotel at around 5:30 am, so I used to get a total of about 4 hours of sleep every day.

All of this just to convince me to join up by my family member.

Though I did get to meet @thetechfreak while I was there, so there was some highlight to my visit. And the one free day I got I visited the museum but didn't get time to see much else.

7 am to 11 pm? bloody hell! i will kick anyone who asks me to do something like that. i did something similar only when my mother was in ICU.

 

[Desmond]

7 am to 11 pm? bloody hell! i will kick anyone who asks me to do something like that. i did something similar only when my mother was in ICU.

The arena where the show was held was about 1 hour drive from the hotel. They had arranged for buses to take everyone there every day. Buses left at 5 am and reached the arena around 6-6:30 am. Then there used to be a huge line to get in since everybody arrives at the same time and then we used to get in slowly. So, yeah, it was quite a hectic morning every day: Wake up at 4 am, get ready, have breakfast, wait for buses to arrive, get on buses, wait 1 hour for the bus to reach the arena, lineup to get in and then listen to f****rs circlejerking for a whole day.

But this is not even the worst part. What's worse is that they all have a very cult-like behaviour. All the speakers were treated like celebrities (with MCs announcing their arrival with intro videos and fireworks) and the founders of the "company" are spoken about with the same reverence as TV gurus. Everybody greeted each other as "good morning" regardless of time of day. They always speak bad about naysayers saying not to watch or read anything that is critical of them. Anybody who has a regular job or a naysayer is called "bhootiya" and is considered unenlightened and who "does not understand their business model". They once did a play about a person stuck in a dull rat race and how joining them freed her from the monotony of life, etc. Being there made me question reality itself, it's an alternate reality where these guys have their own magazines, a youtube-like streaming service, products and services you will never find outside their system, etc. They even have ad videos of these products or services similar to TV ads but only available to their members.

 

[vidhubhushan]

The arena where the show was held was about 1 hour drive from the hotel. They had arranged for buses to take everyone there every day. Buses left at 5 am and reached the arena around 6-6:30 am. Then there used to be a huge line to get in since everybody arrives at the same time and then we used to get in slowly. So, yeah, it was quite a hectic morning every day: Wake up at 4 am, get ready, have breakfast, wait for buses to arrive, get on buses, wait 1 hour for the bus to reach the arena, lineup to get in and then listen to f****rs circlejerking for a whole day.

But this is not even the worst part. What's worse is that they all have a very cult-like behaviour. All the speakers were treated like celebrities (with MCs announcing their arrival with intro videos and fireworks) and the founders of the "company" are spoken about with the same reverence as TV gurus. Everybody greeted each other as "good morning" regardless of time of day. They always speak bad about naysayers saying not to watch or read anything that is critical of them. Anybody who has a regular job or a naysayer is called "bhootiya" and is considered unenlightened and who "does not understand their business model". They once did a play about a person stuck in a dull rat race and how joining them freed her from the monotony of life, etc. Being there made me question reality itself, it's an alternate reality where these guys have their own magazines, a youtube-like streaming service, products and services you will never find outside their system, etc. They even have ad videos of these products or services similar to TV ads but only available to their members.

which means all they need is a new mental asylum to be opened in their name and lifetime free membership for all of them.

 

[vidhubhushan]

@whitestar_999 @Desmond any idea of pearlvine? someone is telling me everyday that if i miss the bus i.e. don't join by 30/06/22, then i will miss a goldmine.

 

[Desmond]

I am not familiar with them, but sounds a lot like exploiting FOMO. Do they look like some sort of MLM? Do you have any link or source where I can read more about them?

Look for these red flags:

• When asked to describe their business they will tend to avoid giving a direct answer.
• Their organization consists of uplines and downlines. That is people above you and below you.
• They will say things like "there is nothing illegal about this" without you asking.
• Searching their name on google gives news articles saying "scam".
• Etc.

Note that once you get involved it's very hard to come out. They will usually ask you to make an "investment" of a huge amount, usually around 10 lakhs or so. And the only way to make back that amount will be to recruit others into the MLM. Then you will feel reluctant to leave because of your huge investment.

 

[vidhubhushan]

thanks buddy. their website is pearlvine dot com
since last 2-3 weeks, they are in a movement that account opening will close on 30/06/22 as there are sufficient members. after this they will launch their own crypto and then it will jump to heaven as bitcoin has only 20 lakh members and its price is too much. all members will be seed partners / founder members. blah blah blah.

 

[RumbaMon19]

Crypto

Scam.

 

[whitestar_999]

thanks buddy. their website is pearlvine dot com
since last 2-3 weeks, they are in a movement that account opening will close on 30/06/22 as there are sufficient members. after this they will launch their own crypto and then it will jump to heaven as bitcoin has only 20 lakh members and its price is too much. all members will be seed partners / founder members. blah blah blah.

Anywhere you see "own crypto coin launch" immediately run away.

 

[vidhubhushan]

Scam.

it is but these people are supercharged

Anywhere you see "own crypto coin launch" immediately run away.

told them no today. they tried again saying server is getting overloaded but i said no, thank you.

 

[Zangetsu]

How much money they are asking to Invest ?

 

[vidhubhushan]

How much money they are asking to Invest ?

initially 2250 out of which half goes to immediate above level person, some gets divided in 7 levels above and 375 to autopool all of which they say is crowdfunding.
then either add 4 people at least or pay 3750 more.
the height was that they said someone has earned some 600-700 crores and has his own plane and gave some random name as well but no idea where is that person. many twitter posts show people showing thumbs up sign for them but every single of them looks not very well off.

 

[RumbaMon19]

initially 2250 out of which half goes to immediate above level person, some gets divided in 7 levels above and 375 to autopool all of which they say is crowdfunding.
then either add 4 people at least or pay 3750 more.
the height was that they said someone has earned some 600-700 crores and has his own plane and gave some random name as well but no idea where is that person. many twitter posts show people showing thumbs up sign for them but every single of them looks not very well off.

The part where money goes to someone above one's level simply translates to scam. After that they expect one to bring 7 more baits?

Also, twitter is full of millionaire bots.

Out of 2250 only 375 is going to pool, which is very less.

Imo, this is not even a scheme, rather seems like straight up scam and lower investor will end up like Raju after investing in this wannabe "Laxmi chit fund" .

 

[SaiyanGoku]

How much money they are asking to Invest giveaway?

FTFY

 

[vidhubhushan]

The part where money goes to someone above one's level simply translates to scam. After that they expect one to bring 7 more baits?

Also, twitter is full of millionaire bots.

Out of 2250 only 375 is going to pool, which is very less.

Imo, this is not even a scheme, rather seems like straight up scam and lower investor will end up like Raju after investing in this wannabe "Laxmi chit fund" .

i told him since there is no buy / sell part, this is simply money circulation in which my money goes to some people and to recover my money i need to get 4 more bakras but he kept moving in different circles and finally was almost too irritated with us but he couldn't vent it out.
according to the so-called seed partners, they are over 70 lakhs so even with this small amount, the pool has grown to an enormous amount. one person said he had received .4 and 4 dollars worth even without doing anything. i said thank you very much, please leave me in abject poverty.

 

[Desmond]

then either add 4 people at least or pay 3750 more

Classic MLM, recruit people below you to earn from them. And those people have to also recruit people under them and so on. To read between the lines: The crypto is just an excuse to move money upwards. I bet the main income is not from the crypto but from recruiting people. These MLMs show the facade of being "direct sellers" with actual products but the products (crypto in this case) is just a medium to move money upwards.

but every single of them looks not very well off.

That's because they actually aren't. They have to show support so make the scheme look attractive to outsiders. Many of them buy expensive cars, flats on loan just to share on social media. Trust me, I know some people (relatives) who have done this.

Edit: To be fair, it is possible to make a lot of money using such a scheme, but only if you are willing to be unscrupulous and cut-throat. Very few people actually make a profit this way and most, especially towards the bottom of the pyramid, lose more money than they gain.