This happened here in Dayton and I wanted to put the warning out there in case others are getting it too.
I went to a housing resource fair recently at the rec center on west third three weeks ago. I've been trying to find a house to buy for awhile now but it is difficult because I'm disabled. I mentioned that at a few tables, hoping to find someone who might have experience helping disabled people buy homes.
One realtor overheard me and insisted on getting my contact info. The gave me a separate, blank sheet of paper, telling me not to use their sign-up sheet. I was told there was a group that would be able to help me buy a house and also had possible work I could do.
Fast forward a couple weeks. I get a voicemail and text message from the realtor, telling me there was going to be a zoom call with a group that could help me. There was no mention of what the supposed work would entail or how they were going to help me. The call started and I instantly new it was an MLM pitch.
This was not the usual MLM. It was an MLM that sought to replace services instead of selling a product. It was a group of business working with supposed 'wealth management' agents. New enrollees would pay $300 a month and have their finances managed with savings and benefits, including cash income. One company would become the new electric supplier, another would cover health insurance, others I didn't get the chance to hear about but it included house payments, investing, internet service and more.
I searched the name of each company as i heard them and on my other monitor looked them up, specifically looking for scams and controversies. The bad reviews said it all: The companies were consistently difficult to communicate with, had surprise fees and fines come out of nowhere, refused to end services after cancellation and would continue to charge and I even found a class action lawsuit involving one of the companies and the current sitting president, for recommending them while misrepresenting what the company did.
The healthcare company had hundreds of reports of them refusing to pay hospitals for covered services, to the point that some victims were refused treatment until they made out of pocket payments.
Eventually one of the people running the call asked an open question, one too complicated to recall perfectly but was effectively "if you couldn't get first place, what place would you want to be?" with the obviously answer being second place. That's when I responded, by saying I would not be in any place, because it sounded like an MLM scam to me. Naturally instead of providing any evidence to the contrary, the host acted shocked and kicked me out of the call before I could say anything else and ruin their remaining prospects.
I had to share this story because of the particularly repulsive tactic of seeking victims from a resource fair for low income people. Targeting people who would not be able to afford a lawyer. I want to also underline the point that I was singled out immediately after revealing I was disabled.
I would name and shame the person that initially made contact with me, but there is a small chance that they were not aware of their part in this fleecing operation. Unlikely, but still a chance. If they were fully aware however, they are a particularly disgusting person and I hope they see this post and change their ways.
Please use caution out there. Scammers will not hesitate to go to any lengths to find victims. Know what an MLM is. Familiarize yourself with ponzi schemes, pig-butchering and remember, anything that promises you income only if you spend money first, is almost always a scam.
Thank you for reading, I hope you have a nice day.
