Has anyone noticed more Amway/Quik-Star scammers around lately?

[NickB79]

As I write this, I'm in a coffee shop where two guys in cheap suits in their mid-20's are throwing bullshit at a guy at the table next to me, telling him about "growing his own business" and "this is a life-changing step".

Last week, I was in Barnes and Noble and overheard the same basic crap from another guy (also in his mid-20's and in a cheap suit).

A few months ago, a guy and his wife approached me in a Walmart parking lot of all places to try to find more pawns.

Last year my best friend and his wife got sucked into Quik-Star and tried to get me and my girlfriend involved in that horrid little pyramid scheme. He learned the hard way just how much of a scam that was, and we don't discuss that issue anymore.

What the hell is going on? Are people getting desperate and grasping at straws in an attempt to improve their income? Or do I just live in suburban hell surrounded by morons?

[Earth_First]

1. What's the scam? n/t

[jmowreader]

5. Amway/Quixtar is a MLM

Calling it a "pyramid scam" would be more accurate, but let's call it an MLM--Multilevel Marketing.

In both Pyramid Scams and MLMs, the idea is that someone recruits you into his "downline"--the group of people working for you. You then turn around and recruit your own downline.

The difference between the two is the product. Pyramids don't really have one. You pay to come in, your downline pays you to come in (and you kick a commission to the people above you), but you don't sell anything. In an MLM, there is a real product. You can buy the stuff, sell it, use it. It's real.

Amway has a product line...but you can buy the same shit at Wal-Mart for less money and you don't have to wait two weeks to get it. The only people who buy Amway products are related to Amway distributors.

What Amway DOES sell in large quantities is literature on selling Amway.

[theredpen]

2. We have a guy at work into Quixstar

He sent my cube-neighbor an email asking if she'd like to learn about a "great business opportunity." She sent him back an email saying, "This isn't Quixstar, is it?" He got all huffy about it and sent her a series of responses that were borderline harassment. Then it turns out that it was Quixstar.

My cube-neighbor says that a lot of people try to recruit Indians (she's from India) for Quixstar. I asked, "Why Indians in particular?" and she said, "I dunno, I think they think we're stupid."

[FormerDittoHead]

3. It depends. It depends on whether you're willing to make your dreams come true.

I mean, what do you want out of life? A better car? A better house? A better job? What if I said that you can have all of those things and more if you just believe in three little words...

:rofl:

[lectrobyte]

6. Too funny.

[Maine-ah]

4. /Amway/Quixtar

my former boss tried to get us to do it, years ago. I actually liked some of the products though.

[Riddler]

7. The only people who are ever going to make any money at this

have already done so a long time ago. This stuff has been around so long that anyone who hasn't ever been preyed upon by someone trying to sign them up either lives in a remote and inaccessible area of the world or has been totally incommunicado with the rest of civilization for the last 40 years.

[Swamp Rat]

8. No, just Mormons

[and-justice-for-all]

9. That's what BushCo adds to the employment rate they brag on...

along with Manpower, McDonalds and Wal-Mart.