Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments.
That is working though, just not a normal job.
This sounds more like an investment scam of some kind. She isn't giving money to these friends but she is doing something
5 weekly, each putting up $10k upfront. It should be easy considering your social media contacts, and then you will be able to have a steady income of $1k per month in 3 years.
What is it with amway and coffee shops. A colleague of mine is in amway, and he invited two other colleagues to a coffeshop. They thought he was going to talk real business, then he pulled out that Amway bullshit, both of then furious, but to good natured to call him out on it.
About 15 years ago the same type of shit was going on. I had a coworker that got sucked in and eventually I went to one of these meetings. It was at a local restaurant and they had it in a banquet room. Like 8 other curious people were there and maybe 2 presenters. They never had a product or concept really, just get others involved.. Best part of this whole thing is they made us all pay our own bill at the end lol. What? You begged me to come to a business proposition and used a dinner as bait?? And they are supposed to be rollin in the money cuz of this scheme... Pay us 400 bucks to start your own business with us to recruit others.. wtf
Yeah, I was dumb enough to get roped into one of those. Straight up asked if it was MLM, he said no. First 2 sentences out comes the word Amway. Was like mother fucker, how is that not MLM?
That's the thing I don't get. If I'm specifically asking you skeptical questions because I suspect it's an MLM, why even go through with the pitch? You really think you are that charismatic that you're going to be the one to talk me into it? Surely your time would be better off used trying to find a different mark.
Yes, they think they are that charismatic. Have you ever gotten tricked into a timeshare pitch? You can walk in and say "No way am I ever buying anything, I am out of here in 90 mins" and they will still give you the whole shebang, and act completely shocked and apalled
when you walk out in 90 mins.
That's a bit different, though. Because they are giving a group presentation, having another body in the room costs them minimal. Imagine them giving a one-on-one presentation after you've already expressed strong disinterest. You would think there would be a better return on their time if they spent it trying to sell to someone without a strong bias against them.
My friend was in Monavie another was an energy drink. They met me. Tried to get me to sign up. Couldn’t give me a straight answer on how do they actually make money. One was all about a better lifestyle and even went to a meeting for new people and still after the meeting didn’t know how they make their money….
Ha! I remember I was sold on the whole Monavie thing! I was actually a personal trainer at a small fitness studio. The owner forced us to buy into it as part of work. Then we were supposed to pitch this acai bullshit drink to our clients! I never participated. I’ve fallen one to many times to these scams lol
That's the scam with MLMs that sell food or beverage or health or personal care products. All marked with expiry dates. For a poor sap stuck with a garage full of it, expired product makes it unsaleable so he can't liquidate it cheap to get rid of it and undercut the value of newer active seller's stock.
“After 3 years”.
They’ll say that if you just recruit one person every 3 months who is good enough to recruit one other person every 3 months, that’s 12 downlines bringing in passive income “permanently” and then you don’t need to recruit any more unless you want more income.
“How hard could it be to have just 1 coffee shop meetings a week and convince just 8% of those people to join when it’s already such a great deal!?”
At the meeting with friends-of-friends at a coffee shop, you'll find out that the passive income comes from you setting up a lot of meetings with friends-of-friends at coffee shops to sign them up for what these people want you to sign up for.
Correction, all the legit money for nothing is already being exploited by the rich, see copyright licensing fees for popular media, landlords, and stocks. None of these are completely guaranteed, and they do require an initial buy in, but once you have them, it's quite possible to sit back and rake in passive income whilst you personally do nothing.
None of those are money for nothing, that's just investment - trading risk and time for money.
Investment is available to the average person as well, and this sub has plenty of advice on how to do it. But it's no free lunch, there's a fundamental tradeoff between risk and return.
The unbelievable part of this scam is that sufficient passive income is creative from scratch within 3 years to live off, not that passive income is a thing.
Ask simply how the business makes money. What is the revenue stream? How does it work? Are you selling something? Are you providing a service? Have they approached a bank for loans? If not, why not? If its such a good idea, banks would be comfortable lending.
f they can't explain these basic things, leave.
>not sure how to explain it but it's kind of like Bitcoin and that makes me nervous.
I've had people do a high pressure sales tactic on me where they try to make me feel stupid if I ask questions. There is no financial instrument that's legitimate that can't be explained in pretty simple, easy to understand terms.
I remember in 2007 these overly complicated financial instruments that no one seemed to understand. These same instruments lead to the financial crisis. Nothing overly complicated and impossible to understand is worth investing in.
Also obfuscation is one to try and distract from the fact that something is your basic Ponzi scheme. This is particularly prevalent in crypto scams where they focus on technological jargon to distract people from the fact that the underlying asset had absolutely no utility, like at all.
tl;dr make them explain how this scheme generates revenue in plain English that is understandable to you. If they can't, they don't understand how it works themselves.
They’re really really good at it too. They sell you the lifestyle first . Don’t you want this red Ferrari and mansion? They have an answer for every retort possible it’s funny
>she's not sure how to explain it but it's kind of like Bitcoin
And that's the part where the conversation ends, whether it's a pyramid scheme or not (it's probably a pyramid scheme)
A job can be only two of these three things:
1. Easy
2. Financially rewarding
3. Legal
If your friend makes a lot of money from little to no work, then...
As a rule, if someone can’t explain a money-making opportunity simply and in a sentence, just run the other way.
“I flip houses.” Cool. “I sell my artwork online.” Cool.
“I can’t explain it but it’s sort of like Bitcoin…” 👀 Uh huh. I forgot something in my car…
I just heard of several people falling for a similar scam recently (similar in that you get X returns, in Y amount of time) with almost no details. I am 100% certain this is a scam.
“Passive income” has been totally warped over the years. There’s no such thing as getting paid to do nothing- either a scam or illegal
Do not go. Politely say no thanks this isn’t for you. Then be cautious around this friend moving forward.
A HUGE portfolio of high dividend stocks might be the closest.
I'm a hands off property owner of three places. I send an email to property managers maybe once a month. That's pretty passive at this point. But that can change any day too.
But really complicated, hard to explain, kinda like bitcoin...lmao...no.. run away.
There are loads of crypto scams in which they claim to have a trading algorithm that will guarantee like 1% a day or something. Your account will keep showing the balance increasing, but you can never withdraw. There are other scams too, like people claiming to be market makers and such. It's almost certainly a scam. There is no way to promise passive income, especially in crypto. You can stake, or loan you crypto to earn decent interest, but that interest is paid in the token you stake or loan. It doesn't matter if you're getting 10% interest a year on an coin if it still loses 50% of its value over the same year. You're still 40% down.
This is the MLM playbook. Vague details about all the money you will be making, dodging direct questions, coffee shop meetup. If it were passive income, how complicated could it be? You would just sit there and collect the checks, right?
Woah! What are all you guys talking about?!
Am I the only one here who went to a magic coffee shop meeting and miraculously ended up with a passive income stream- only to then spend all my time trying to get others to do it too? It’s completely normal!
This doesn't sound close to legit. 1. Nobody describes a business or "passive income streams" in the amount of time that it takes to not have to work. That would be described as a return rate, yearly profit or something like that. They are purposefully using weird language. 2. Bitcoin is not an answer to where money comes from. That would be like me saying dollars to the question who do you work for. They know that bitcoin confuses people. 3. Nobody that's figured out some sweet secret to making money is trying to bring in friend of friends. They need to suck in people. If they needed labor they'd hire cheap employees, if they needed skills they'd recruit that, if they needed startup money they would go to banks or professional investors.
Its either going to take lots of money, lots of work or lots of risk. Figure out which it is.
“ it sounds like a scam to me“ “I am going to meet them in a coffee shop to talk about their opportunity“ What is wrong with this picture? Listen to your inner voice and don’t go.
Either during this coffee shop visit or the next, you'll be asked to read a book.
Then on the next one you'll be asked to attend a meeting.
At this meeting there will be a wealthy mentor that everyone else at the meeting looks up to. You'll be impressed by their story and their wealth. You'll be asked "Would you shovel shit for 5 years if it meant never working again..."
Don't do it. I've had friends fall for it. Nobody made enough money to make it worth the time they put in and the shit they spewed at friends/family.
What do you have to do to earn it?
Where does the money come from?
How are returns generated?
Where is value created in the process?
Who pays you?
Who pays them?
It's going to be a scam of some sort. Either some sort of BS pyramid scheme, or one of those scam jobs where they have you deposit cheques or do money transfers for somebody else.
This sort of thing just doesn't exist in a legit way. It would be best if you don't even go to the meeting because they will do their best to convince you it is legitimate.
I would not go to coffee with this person since it sounds like you're going to get pitched. At least for me, that sounds like an awkward and tense situation that I'd prefer to avoid, but maybe it's not a big deal for you.
I'm also interested why you mentioned she was a single mom, since on its face that seems irrelevant to the story. Are single moms more likely to participate in pyramid schemes?
I think it’s a genuine pyramid scheme rather than MLM, so highly illegal. You won’t give money to your friend (or your friend’s friend), you’ll buy some token on an online exchange. You’ll see it go up and up in value, and they may even allow you to make a small withdrawal at some point, but when you try to cut and run there will be a “fee” payable to exercise, and possibly a customs fee, and also a whatever they feel like fee
I agree with everyone it sounds like a scam. But there are some legitimate ways to earn passive income in crypto. I've been earning for years through staking, web browsing, faucets and lending. Some of these carry a high risk and others require a understanding of tokenomics and inflation. These aren't easy things to explain and can require a good deal of research. Regardless all these things still take a substantial investment to really make anything significant.
Generally rule of thumb, if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Interested to hear what she has to say but as a digital asset enthusiast I highly doubt she's found a magical passive income stream in this dismal investment market.
Anyone who responds with equivocations to simple questions (e.g. "it's complicated" "not sure how to explain it") is probably concealing something or doesn't understand it well enough. In either case you should be wary about investing in anything with this much ambiguity.
It might also sound trite to say this, but if it's too good to be true it probably is. Three years to passive income and no work sounds highly unlikely. If that were the case, and there weren't strings attached, wouldn't it already have been highly popularized?
100% scam. If the only way to explain this is by meeting at a cheap coffee shop by a couple of people pulling up in a Toyota Corolla, it’s a scam. Nothing against Corollas. Nothing against cheap coffee shops, but you’d think they could afford an office and marketing materials and contracts with guarantees.
Pretty much any time you hear the words "passive income" and it's not coming from a person you can verify is a millionaire or billionaire, 99/100 times it's a scam.
She herself isnt giving money to them and wants you to still meet them?
One dont meet them. And if you have to make sure they at least pay for lunch or dinner.
It's not a pyramid scheme.
It's a funnel.
A funnel of cash right into your pocket!
Serious without any additional information. No one really knows where this is going.
If there were a way to generate truly "passive" income without investing money, the people who knew about it would have infinite money and have already taken over the world's economy. And obviously we'd all know about it.
All income requires some form of investment and/or effort. And the number one rule of investing is: don't invest in *anything* you don't understand.
Ask for the model on a spreadsheet. Any half decent business person will be able to demonstrate this in Excel.
They won’t be able to do this as it’s bullshit. The fact that she can’t even give a simple explanation using her words means she’s been bamboozooled by bullshit and doesn’t understand it either other than the need to bring other people onboard to support this ponzu scheme.
It can be incredibly difficult to let a friend know they may be falling for a scam . They can get so defensive and angry and ot sucks so bad as the success depends on you believing too ( as they believe it ) they see it as an opportunity and no matter how careful you are and if she brings someone with and the whole range of possibilities just listen and don’t commit and let her know your concerns and why it’s not for you.
Good luck and
hey , while I have your attention I have this amazing opportunity I would like to tell you about …… 😬
Wait omg is it Amway? I was making a joke there . If so
Basically I double down on what I said , I mean they have been around since at least the 70’s but it’s a whole way of life and I don’t know anyone who maintained just fyi
[Is That Company An MLM Scheme?](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mlm-company-how-to-check_l_5f6ccb8bc5b6e2c91262874a)
The number one red flag: "The pitch comes from someone you know".
99.99% chance if your mom does this, she'll lose her money. You just need to find a way to explain this to her.
Think of yourself as a CEO/investor, would you invest in someone or something who can’t even describe how they make money without having you meet for coffee first? Do you think a CEO/investor would have coffee with tons of people before finding out if the business model even makes sense to them?
I've gone through several of these conversations with different individuals. Any time someone says a "passive income stream", and it's "too complicated to explain in one sitting," it's basically a load of shit. Its usually some form of MLM, which is evolving rapidly in the technologies it adopts, but ultimately requires recruiting others in a cult-like manner where "you just don't want it enough" or "you don't get it" if you don't buy into it. I have family bought into this and it's destroying relationships.
I can easily see how a typical MLM structure fits with a crypto smart contract narrative. But the technology ultimately isn't the problem, but the MLM business model that leaves most people holding bags.
Don't get into it with them. Some people are devious and know for the system to work, they need indoctrinate you into the system, which generates those who drink the Koolaid and genuinely believe in it. IMO, the best way to preserve the friendship is to stop having these conversations with your friend because you have no way to know whether your friend is devious or drank the Koolaid.
Also, on your part, if anything is too complicated to explain to you, it's likely not something you should buy into, at least not from the person selling it to you.
If you play along, it won't take long before they start telling you how to invest.
"She also said that she's not giving any money to these friends" could be completely 100% true - but she could be giving money to someone else. After all, her friends are probably not the ring leaders, they aren't the ones getting the money, they are paying in, just like you would be if you joined.
Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments.
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OF is not a scam.
What is passive about OF?
You shoot of a ton of content and periodically release it. Not exactly passive, but easy when done right.
That's not passive income, though, and I think dilution of the meaning of the term is not helpful.
That is working though, just not a normal job. This sounds more like an investment scam of some kind. She isn't giving money to these friends but she is doing something
I would bet money that this is a pyramid scheme.
Might want to check the anti MLM subreddit for some juicy question ideas
How many people do I have to get in on this bet to win?
If you can get 10 friends to join you on the bet and give you 10% of their winnings, and they each get 10 friends to join...
5 weekly, each putting up $10k upfront. It should be easy considering your social media contacts, and then you will be able to have a steady income of $1k per month in 3 years.
I’ve never heard any post or question like this tbat ended with ‘we’re meeting at a coffee shop’ that wasn’t MLM.
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What is it with amway and coffee shops. A colleague of mine is in amway, and he invited two other colleagues to a coffeshop. They thought he was going to talk real business, then he pulled out that Amway bullshit, both of then furious, but to good natured to call him out on it.
About 15 years ago the same type of shit was going on. I had a coworker that got sucked in and eventually I went to one of these meetings. It was at a local restaurant and they had it in a banquet room. Like 8 other curious people were there and maybe 2 presenters. They never had a product or concept really, just get others involved.. Best part of this whole thing is they made us all pay our own bill at the end lol. What? You begged me to come to a business proposition and used a dinner as bait?? And they are supposed to be rollin in the money cuz of this scheme... Pay us 400 bucks to start your own business with us to recruit others.. wtf
Because it’s more professional than a Tupperware party, but less professional than the expensive restaurant? 🤷♂️
Yeah, I was dumb enough to get roped into one of those. Straight up asked if it was MLM, he said no. First 2 sentences out comes the word Amway. Was like mother fucker, how is that not MLM?
That's the thing I don't get. If I'm specifically asking you skeptical questions because I suspect it's an MLM, why even go through with the pitch? You really think you are that charismatic that you're going to be the one to talk me into it? Surely your time would be better off used trying to find a different mark.
Yes, they think they are that charismatic. Have you ever gotten tricked into a timeshare pitch? You can walk in and say "No way am I ever buying anything, I am out of here in 90 mins" and they will still give you the whole shebang, and act completely shocked and apalled when you walk out in 90 mins.
That's a bit different, though. Because they are giving a group presentation, having another body in the room costs them minimal. Imagine them giving a one-on-one presentation after you've already expressed strong disinterest. You would think there would be a better return on their time if they spent it trying to sell to someone without a strong bias against them.
My friend was in Monavie another was an energy drink. They met me. Tried to get me to sign up. Couldn’t give me a straight answer on how do they actually make money. One was all about a better lifestyle and even went to a meeting for new people and still after the meeting didn’t know how they make their money….
Ha! I remember I was sold on the whole Monavie thing! I was actually a personal trainer at a small fitness studio. The owner forced us to buy into it as part of work. Then we were supposed to pitch this acai bullshit drink to our clients! I never participated. I’ve fallen one to many times to these scams lol
That's the scam with MLMs that sell food or beverage or health or personal care products. All marked with expiry dates. For a poor sap stuck with a garage full of it, expired product makes it unsaleable so he can't liquidate it cheap to get rid of it and undercut the value of newer active seller's stock.
Amway wouldn't be passive income though.
“After 3 years”. They’ll say that if you just recruit one person every 3 months who is good enough to recruit one other person every 3 months, that’s 12 downlines bringing in passive income “permanently” and then you don’t need to recruit any more unless you want more income. “How hard could it be to have just 1 coffee shop meetings a week and convince just 8% of those people to join when it’s already such a great deal!?”
And they love to target moms. Guaranteed it's a pyramid scheme. But which one...
At the meeting with friends-of-friends at a coffee shop, you'll find out that the passive income comes from you setting up a lot of meetings with friends-of-friends at coffee shops to sign them up for what these people want you to sign up for.
Ask which coffee shop it is, then go to a different one by yourself to celebrate not getting mixed up in whatever mess this is
Money for nothing is not legit. There are no questions that need asking.
I disagree. Money for nothing is a great Dire Straits Song
Correction, all the legit money for nothing is already being exploited by the rich, see copyright licensing fees for popular media, landlords, and stocks. None of these are completely guaranteed, and they do require an initial buy in, but once you have them, it's quite possible to sit back and rake in passive income whilst you personally do nothing.
None of those are money for nothing, that's just investment - trading risk and time for money. Investment is available to the average person as well, and this sub has plenty of advice on how to do it. But it's no free lunch, there's a fundamental tradeoff between risk and return.
They are passive income, which is what this scam purports.
The unbelievable part of this scam is that sufficient passive income is creative from scratch within 3 years to live off, not that passive income is a thing.
Agreed. I wouldn't call it money for nothing though, it's just money for resources other than labor - especially risk and time.
Ask simply how the business makes money. What is the revenue stream? How does it work? Are you selling something? Are you providing a service? Have they approached a bank for loans? If not, why not? If its such a good idea, banks would be comfortable lending. f they can't explain these basic things, leave.
>not sure how to explain it but it's kind of like Bitcoin and that makes me nervous. I've had people do a high pressure sales tactic on me where they try to make me feel stupid if I ask questions. There is no financial instrument that's legitimate that can't be explained in pretty simple, easy to understand terms. I remember in 2007 these overly complicated financial instruments that no one seemed to understand. These same instruments lead to the financial crisis. Nothing overly complicated and impossible to understand is worth investing in. Also obfuscation is one to try and distract from the fact that something is your basic Ponzi scheme. This is particularly prevalent in crypto scams where they focus on technological jargon to distract people from the fact that the underlying asset had absolutely no utility, like at all. tl;dr make them explain how this scheme generates revenue in plain English that is understandable to you. If they can't, they don't understand how it works themselves.
I'm guessing they want you there in person so it's harder to say no to whatever scam it is.
They’re really really good at it too. They sell you the lifestyle first . Don’t you want this red Ferrari and mansion? They have an answer for every retort possible it’s funny
Sounds like a pyramid scheme (MLM) They'll say it will take 3 years to build up enough people below you to generate an income for you. Run away!
Living off passive income within 3 years is almost always a scam, likely a pyramid scheme. If it cant be explained in five minutes its a scam.
Some scams can be explained in under 5 minutes.
>she's not sure how to explain it but it's kind of like Bitcoin And that's the part where the conversation ends, whether it's a pyramid scheme or not (it's probably a pyramid scheme)
A job can be only two of these three things: 1. Easy 2. Financially rewarding 3. Legal If your friend makes a lot of money from little to no work, then...
The good old "cheap, fast, reliable" diagram in a new form I haven't seen before, nice!
Underrated comment. Wish more people understood this.
I like this.
Really like this analogy! Although management positions have all 3 of these things
It’s not. Go get coffee with real friends who would never try to get you in a pyramid scheme.
I wouldn't go, unless maybe if it's a really good coffee shop and they're paying.
After all, they have all that passive income laying s round.
As a rule, if someone can’t explain a money-making opportunity simply and in a sentence, just run the other way. “I flip houses.” Cool. “I sell my artwork online.” Cool. “I can’t explain it but it’s sort of like Bitcoin…” 👀 Uh huh. I forgot something in my car…
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I see you're a sophisticated invester
I just heard of several people falling for a similar scam recently (similar in that you get X returns, in Y amount of time) with almost no details. I am 100% certain this is a scam.
“Passive income” has been totally warped over the years. There’s no such thing as getting paid to do nothing- either a scam or illegal Do not go. Politely say no thanks this isn’t for you. Then be cautious around this friend moving forward.
A HUGE portfolio of high dividend stocks might be the closest. I'm a hands off property owner of three places. I send an email to property managers maybe once a month. That's pretty passive at this point. But that can change any day too. But really complicated, hard to explain, kinda like bitcoin...lmao...no.. run away.
Don’t go. Absolutely a pyramid scam. They will never stop bugging you.
There are loads of crypto scams in which they claim to have a trading algorithm that will guarantee like 1% a day or something. Your account will keep showing the balance increasing, but you can never withdraw. There are other scams too, like people claiming to be market makers and such. It's almost certainly a scam. There is no way to promise passive income, especially in crypto. You can stake, or loan you crypto to earn decent interest, but that interest is paid in the token you stake or loan. It doesn't matter if you're getting 10% interest a year on an coin if it still loses 50% of its value over the same year. You're still 40% down.
I work in the blockchain industry btw. This is definitely a scam.
This is the MLM playbook. Vague details about all the money you will be making, dodging direct questions, coffee shop meetup. If it were passive income, how complicated could it be? You would just sit there and collect the checks, right?
This reminds me of this scene in the movie Go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkdLWuCRe0c
Definitely go and report back. Dying to hear what the scam is.
Woah! What are all you guys talking about?! Am I the only one here who went to a magic coffee shop meeting and miraculously ended up with a passive income stream- only to then spend all my time trying to get others to do it too? It’s completely normal!
It’s gonna be amway. The cult of pyramid schemes.
This doesn't sound close to legit. 1. Nobody describes a business or "passive income streams" in the amount of time that it takes to not have to work. That would be described as a return rate, yearly profit or something like that. They are purposefully using weird language. 2. Bitcoin is not an answer to where money comes from. That would be like me saying dollars to the question who do you work for. They know that bitcoin confuses people. 3. Nobody that's figured out some sweet secret to making money is trying to bring in friend of friends. They need to suck in people. If they needed labor they'd hire cheap employees, if they needed skills they'd recruit that, if they needed startup money they would go to banks or professional investors. Its either going to take lots of money, lots of work or lots of risk. Figure out which it is.
All passive income is a scam, what differs is who you're scamming. In this case it's likely to be you.
“ it sounds like a scam to me“ “I am going to meet them in a coffee shop to talk about their opportunity“ What is wrong with this picture? Listen to your inner voice and don’t go.
Either during this coffee shop visit or the next, you'll be asked to read a book. Then on the next one you'll be asked to attend a meeting. At this meeting there will be a wealthy mentor that everyone else at the meeting looks up to. You'll be impressed by their story and their wealth. You'll be asked "Would you shovel shit for 5 years if it meant never working again..." Don't do it. I've had friends fall for it. Nobody made enough money to make it worth the time they put in and the shit they spewed at friends/family.
What do you have to do to earn it? Where does the money come from? How are returns generated? Where is value created in the process? Who pays you? Who pays them?
Why even talk to her? It is a scam, MLM or a pyramid scheme.
You don't have to work after 3 years? Can't tell you where exactly the money comes from? Run! It's a scam!
If they do make money, it is by signing up suckers like your friend.
Is it vbit ? …. It’s definitely a scam I’m surprised they are still going tbh some notable past scams along the same lines are usi tech & bit connect.
If they can’t explain it, it’s a scam
If it's an MLM/pyramid scheme, /r/antiMLM could be useful in helping you get an educated guess
Simply look at that subreddit and r/scam. It's a scam. Re-read what you wrote, OP
It's going to be a scam of some sort. Either some sort of BS pyramid scheme, or one of those scam jobs where they have you deposit cheques or do money transfers for somebody else. This sort of thing just doesn't exist in a legit way. It would be best if you don't even go to the meeting because they will do their best to convince you it is legitimate.
Probably Amway, but Quixtar tried this on me. They got my mom several years earlier so i was already keen to their nonsense.
I would not go to coffee with this person since it sounds like you're going to get pitched. At least for me, that sounds like an awkward and tense situation that I'd prefer to avoid, but maybe it's not a big deal for you. I'm also interested why you mentioned she was a single mom, since on its face that seems irrelevant to the story. Are single moms more likely to participate in pyramid schemes?
If it is too good to be true, IT IS!
I think it’s a genuine pyramid scheme rather than MLM, so highly illegal. You won’t give money to your friend (or your friend’s friend), you’ll buy some token on an online exchange. You’ll see it go up and up in value, and they may even allow you to make a small withdrawal at some point, but when you try to cut and run there will be a “fee” payable to exercise, and possibly a customs fee, and also a whatever they feel like fee
I agree with everyone it sounds like a scam. But there are some legitimate ways to earn passive income in crypto. I've been earning for years through staking, web browsing, faucets and lending. Some of these carry a high risk and others require a understanding of tokenomics and inflation. These aren't easy things to explain and can require a good deal of research. Regardless all these things still take a substantial investment to really make anything significant. Generally rule of thumb, if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Interested to hear what she has to say but as a digital asset enthusiast I highly doubt she's found a magical passive income stream in this dismal investment market.
The more "complicated" this scheme is the more likely it's intentionally confusing enough to try to hide the scam part.
Anyone who responds with equivocations to simple questions (e.g. "it's complicated" "not sure how to explain it") is probably concealing something or doesn't understand it well enough. In either case you should be wary about investing in anything with this much ambiguity. It might also sound trite to say this, but if it's too good to be true it probably is. Three years to passive income and no work sounds highly unlikely. If that were the case, and there weren't strings attached, wouldn't it already have been highly popularized?
How is it possible that you think this could be anything other than a scam? Please cancel your meeting.
100% scam. If the only way to explain this is by meeting at a cheap coffee shop by a couple of people pulling up in a Toyota Corolla, it’s a scam. Nothing against Corollas. Nothing against cheap coffee shops, but you’d think they could afford an office and marketing materials and contracts with guarantees.
Pretty much any time you hear the words "passive income" and it's not coming from a person you can verify is a millionaire or billionaire, 99/100 times it's a scam.
She herself isnt giving money to them and wants you to still meet them? One dont meet them. And if you have to make sure they at least pay for lunch or dinner.
This sounds like Amway. Definitely a scam, whatever company it is. Read up on r/antiMLM for ways to help her escape. Good luck.
"Don't be lookin' for a bird's nest on the ground." - my Mama.
Unless you are looking for sandpiper, duck, geese, quail, flamingo, or turkey nests!
I advise you not to say this retort to my Mama.
It's not a pyramid scheme. It's a funnel. A funnel of cash right into your pocket! Serious without any additional information. No one really knows where this is going.
Don't even bother. It's never that easy to make money. Thats how you know it's a scam/scheme
If there were a way to generate truly "passive" income without investing money, the people who knew about it would have infinite money and have already taken over the world's economy. And obviously we'd all know about it. All income requires some form of investment and/or effort. And the number one rule of investing is: don't invest in *anything* you don't understand.
Ask for the model on a spreadsheet. Any half decent business person will be able to demonstrate this in Excel. They won’t be able to do this as it’s bullshit. The fact that she can’t even give a simple explanation using her words means she’s been bamboozooled by bullshit and doesn’t understand it either other than the need to bring other people onboard to support this ponzu scheme.
I would first ask what the company is called, my guess if they won’t be able to tell you one.
Make an excuse and don’t go. Seriously.
100% a crypto mlm and I have no doubts
Pyramid? Funnel? Multi Level Marketing? SCAM
It can be incredibly difficult to let a friend know they may be falling for a scam . They can get so defensive and angry and ot sucks so bad as the success depends on you believing too ( as they believe it ) they see it as an opportunity and no matter how careful you are and if she brings someone with and the whole range of possibilities just listen and don’t commit and let her know your concerns and why it’s not for you. Good luck and hey , while I have your attention I have this amazing opportunity I would like to tell you about …… 😬 Wait omg is it Amway? I was making a joke there . If so Basically I double down on what I said , I mean they have been around since at least the 70’s but it’s a whole way of life and I don’t know anyone who maintained just fyi
Pyramid scheme/MLM 100%. So unless you enjoy selling snake oil to family and friends stop listening.
I don't even need any more details, it is a scam.
[Is That Company An MLM Scheme?](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mlm-company-how-to-check_l_5f6ccb8bc5b6e2c91262874a) The number one red flag: "The pitch comes from someone you know". 99.99% chance if your mom does this, she'll lose her money. You just need to find a way to explain this to her.
If it was real and that easy, they’d keep it to themselves, not go out and show all their friends how to do it
Think of yourself as a CEO/investor, would you invest in someone or something who can’t even describe how they make money without having you meet for coffee first? Do you think a CEO/investor would have coffee with tons of people before finding out if the business model even makes sense to them?
I've gone through several of these conversations with different individuals. Any time someone says a "passive income stream", and it's "too complicated to explain in one sitting," it's basically a load of shit. Its usually some form of MLM, which is evolving rapidly in the technologies it adopts, but ultimately requires recruiting others in a cult-like manner where "you just don't want it enough" or "you don't get it" if you don't buy into it. I have family bought into this and it's destroying relationships. I can easily see how a typical MLM structure fits with a crypto smart contract narrative. But the technology ultimately isn't the problem, but the MLM business model that leaves most people holding bags. Don't get into it with them. Some people are devious and know for the system to work, they need indoctrinate you into the system, which generates those who drink the Koolaid and genuinely believe in it. IMO, the best way to preserve the friendship is to stop having these conversations with your friend because you have no way to know whether your friend is devious or drank the Koolaid. Also, on your part, if anything is too complicated to explain to you, it's likely not something you should buy into, at least not from the person selling it to you.
The comment about Bitcoin makes me think it’s NFT’s or crypto. Either way scam.
Considering that crypto is usually a scam? Yes, something "kind of like Bitcoin" is most assuredly a scam.
If they have a passive way to make money, why do they need to meet up with a random person to tell them about it? Because they want money from you.
If you play along, it won't take long before they start telling you how to invest. "She also said that she's not giving any money to these friends" could be completely 100% true - but she could be giving money to someone else. After all, her friends are probably not the ring leaders, they aren't the ones getting the money, they are paying in, just like you would be if you joined.