The short version: Don't believe the hype!
Got a Voicemail at work, offering me an "exciting opportunity" for employment.
It actually set off my shady detector in three different ways:
1) The caller never said where he got my name from, and I'm familiar enough with the current economy to know that no one is calling other people to give them jobs right now, in fact, job seekers are lucky to get a fuad call rejecting them.
2) He offered me substantial income, part-time or full-time, if I'm interested in doing something different from my current position or looking for some extra money on the side. But he didn't say what my current position was, nor what the new thing was. How does he know I'm not doing it already? Hell, how do I know? If he can't (won't) tell you even what the hell it is: Beware.
3) When saying what company he represented he mumbled, so that I couldn't hear it well at all. Even if this had been accidental, he didn't provide any detail on how I would go about finding out more information on his company, which is a logical first step for any job seeker (or legitimate employer).
I'm not really even looking for another job at the moment, but I was curious enough to check into it some more. I called, and (luckily) I got his voicemail, which allowed me to at least find the name of the company: Primerica. This wasn't actually the name he mumbled on my voicemail, which was Citigroup. While they are related in a corporate sense, it seems that their ways of doing business are very different. In any case I did a Google search and the second link was this:
PrimericaBuster
It would appear that this is a system which is not *just* multi-level marketing, but insurance fraud rolled into it at the same time. The basic idea is to call people and talk them into cancelling their existing life-insurance and convert it into term (read: temporary) life-insurance. While there could be some reasons for doing this, the methods outlined in the warning site don't seem above-board. And as a bonus, you make more when you recruit more "members" to sell under you. That's right, It's Amway Insurance Salesman. Yeah and there's a $200 fee to join.
In any case, the site above goes into much greater detail. I just wanted to share since, while I don't figure any of you would be taken in by this, it is possible you might waste some time like me just trying to pin down what the hell its about. And Primerica very directly targets the unemployed, who just might be a little more willing than most to "give it a try".
Note: If you've had great experience with multi-level marketing in your own life and have some great opportunities or products you'd like to share, then I'm happy you're happy, but please don't share. I don't care even a little.
Posted by ktismael at January 12, 2005 10:55 PM