All good things come to those who wait.  In my Scam of the Day for September 4, 2015 I told you about the Federal Trade Commission’s legal action against Vemma Nutrition Company, which the FTC described in its court complaint as an illegal pyramid scheme that preyed primarily upon college students and other young people.   Young people were lured to sign up as affiliates of the company which marketed health and wellness drinks with promises of earnings of as much as $50,000 a week while the truth was that 90% of the company’s affiliates earned less that $3,674 annually while the company reaped profits of 200 million dollars in 2014.  According to the FTC, Vemma was an illegal pyramid scheme where affiliates’ earnings were tied primarily to signing up more affiliates than to selling products.   Sometimes a legitimate multilevel marketing business may look quite similar to an illegitimate pyramid scheme, which is one of the reasons that so many people fall prey to these scams.  For every legitimate multilevel marketing company, such as Mary Kay and Amway, there are many that are just scams.  In a legitimate multilevel marketing company, investors make money by selling products to the public and by recruiting new salespeople.  In a pyramid scheme the source of profits is based primarily on the recruiting of new members or salespeople.

Now, four years after the initial court actions against Vemma, the FTC is sending checks totaling more than 2.2 million dollars to the victims of the scam.

TIPS

Anyone who is considering investing in what is represented to be a multilevel marketing business should always investigate the company and the terms of investment carefully before investing any money.  In addition, you should also check out the company with the FTC and your state’s attorney general to make sure that the company is legitimate before investing any money.  Here is a link to information from the FTC that you should consider before investing in a multilevel marketing business.  http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing

For more information about this particular refund program check out the “FTC Scam Refunds” tab in the middle of the first page of http://www.scamicide.com. You also can find information there about the mailing of the refund checks.  There is no cost or fee to file a claim or get a refund.  Anyone who tells you differently is trying to scam you.

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