Some kind of scheme...?

[morningstar]

OK guys here's a story.
A guy who I was really good friends with at school came into my work to pay for some fuel. We chatted for a bit and I told him I had just recently turned 18 and he said congrats etc as you do. 15 mins later he rings the service station and tells me he has a opening in his dad's company which is based in Brisbane (QLD capital city) but is expanding to the area of Queensland i live in and offers me a job. I went to meet him the next afternoon and spent 20 mins listening to him tell me about this company. He said it was an online-based store that acted as a middleman between the manufacturers and the consumers, effectively cutting out distributors, wholesalers etc and then used a heap of buzzwords and jargon and showed me a heap of diagrams that made little or no sense. He said that it generated passive income which means you don't have to work to get money but just wait for people to buy stuff and you get money automatically from that. Lost track there and drifted til he was done. There's a workshop on tonight that I'm supposed to go to.
There are a few problems with this though:
1. They have NO website whatsoever
2. He steered the conversation back to his gibberish when I asked direct questions
3. There are numerous forums on the net that describe this kind of business as a pyramid scheme or multi-level marketing scheme and there are heaps of debates on the topic.

OK assuming everyone can understand this (sorry guys this is the best sense I could make of it) what are your thoughts?

[Bob]

And at the workshop you'll be asking to pay for or buy something.

It's a scam.  Ancient, inperson spam.  Just tell him you're not interested.

If they can't answer questions or things sound too good to be true, they are.  Eventually they will ask for some money.

They're not stupid either.  They're just trolling for suckers.  Someone falls for that stuff and that's why they keep doing it.  If you start asking critical questions, they might go away too -- They'll recognize you're not falling for it.

It probably is a pyramid scheme.  They're illegal (at least in the US) from what I understand, but I've heard they're still around an advertised on tv even.

If you have the time, sometimes it's fun to toy around with them.  Just waste their time.  Tell them you don't understand and have them repeat everything.  When they ask for money, tell them you don't have any but maybe they could give you some to get you started?

I came back from work once and stupidly picked up the phone to be greeted by a phone service marketing guy.  I was pretty brain dead and found I could half-concentrate on him.  I asked him to repeat himself about five times.  Eventually he actually asked if I was retarded and was I really the head of the household.  I was actually concentrating on cooking at the time.  I remember telling him other businesses had made lower offers.  Just make up a lower number and give them the name of any business.  I was surprised when he started saying "So that's a yes then?  You want me to sign you up right?"  That required actual attention so I hung up on him.

They can be fun to toy around with though.  Just don't sign or verbally agree to anything. 

Or tell them you're only there because someone from the Better Business Burearu is making you.  Then see what they do.

Or tell them you're pretty sure they're paying you to attend and where's you're cash for that because they said cash.  Or the other place gives you free food, etc. and why don't they?

Sad that it's someone you knew though.  They must think you're a sucker then.

[morningstar]

That's what I'm thinking...might be interesting to see what happens at this workshop though but still not sure if I'm going to attend. Yeah I think they are illegal here too. I read a bit more into this and it's called a "Multi-level Marketing" scheme. One guy recruits say, 5 people to work for him in this business and each of them recruit 5 etc. Generally they start with friends and family who are 18+ (apparently 18+ is a must, probably so you can sign stuff). I'll see if I can find the link for you guys to check out for yourselves, there's a huge thread about 1 guy trying to promote it and heaps of people giving him heaps about it-make interesting reading. Don't get it though, I went to school with this guy and he's an intelligent guy. Guess anyone can get sucked in...

[Bob]

He probably bought into something (literally) and is now trying to get out, break even, by taking advantage of people he knows.  Not my definition of a friend.  I would be insulted, but realize where I stand with that guy. 

Because how do you get out of a pryamid scheme?  You find several other people to buy from you. 

Sounds like this guy is just trying to help himself, not looking out for you.  Of course he's probably saying he's helping you. 

[morningstar]

OK found the link:
https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233246
There's one guy who has signed up to this thing. He is encouraging people to criticize him and attempts to argue why they are wrong. Makes quite an interesting read, though for some reason Firefox has a problem with it .
The thing is he seems quite happy or content. I'm thinking he's just started up and is still enamoured by the prospect of easy money, hasn't seen the pitfalls and probably won't til it's too late.
Whatever, don't think I'll bother with the seminar I know better now. Cheers Bob. Does anyone else have thoughts?

[morningstar]

OK. Went to the seminar and listened to 45 minutes of the same gibberish, tried to talk to one of the speakers afterward and copped 20 mins of same said gibberich. How can people get sucked into these things when they don't understand what's being said? This is just wrong.
Oh BTW Bob, we were not required to buy anything-I'm assuming the costs you were referring to were the 150-220 dollar "start-up" costs. Then again, one never knows...