What's up with so many NTU students touting MLM/pyramid schemes?

[Les grossman]

By Glioblastoma21

Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR of my LinkedIn connections have reached out of late to offer me a "business opportunity" and a "chance to earn some passive income". It always starts off with them sending me a follow request (each has 500+ connections) and then they follow through by thanking me for accepting their request, quizzing me about my plans for further education and career aspirations yada yada, before finally delivering the killer line: "would you be interested in joining me and my business partners to develop a side hustle?"


The common denominator between these third-rate crooks? They ALL hail from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and ALL of them are pursuing a STEM-related course - I shall now go into detail without doxxing their identities to avoid potential legal repercussions.

Every such individual explained that he/she was a "business leader" and his/her business "linked consumers to suppliers who produced various types of goods". Basically, they were all ostensibly plugged into the supply chain industry or acting as middlemen between consumers and suppliers.

The head honcho of this pyramid scheme who initiated contact was an NTU graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering. He seemed like a bright young man with strong prospects based on his long list of work experience and academic credentials (90RPs, dean's list, First Class Honours etc) cited. I performed a Google search on him and discovered he gave 'A' Level Physics and Mathematics tuition at a learning centre. I went through a few interview rounds before he tasked me with reading a Robert Kiyosaki book (titled "The Business of the 21st Century"), and subsequently giving him 3 takeaways and 3 questions as a means to evaluate my compatibility with his "business vision". The moment I heard the words "Robert Kiyosaki" leave his mouth, I sensed something was seriously amiss given Kiyosaki's own fractured reputation as a conman and fraudulent businessman. Nevertheless I read the book cover to cover; as expected I found myself disagreeing with the "associate network business model" nonsense that Kiyosaki was spouting - which I ardently reflected to him thereafter. He ghosted me immediately on both Whatsapp and LinkedIn.​

More at https://www.domainofexperts.com/2023/03/whats-up-with-so-many-ntu-students.html

 

[k1976]

No choice , if u want to enjoy life to MAX

 

[Byebye Penis]

Kids from poorer families or polytechnics tend to go to NTU. For the same course, richer ones will go NUS, SMU or overseas.

Lots of poorer PRC and Indian students there too. Better ones go to NUS.

 

[k1976]

君子爱财，取之有道

 

[k1976]

Dun forget, there are many many jiuhu there...u can hear Canto and Mandrain pop blasted from rooms

几夠力一虾的哦

 

[Willamshakespear]

Most by now would understand better on frauds such as pyramid or MLM schemes, but sadly, the few naive are still fooled...

Pyramid scheme:-

A promises B that if he invest $1000 into A's scheme, A will reimburse B with $200 every month & at the end 12mths, B can withdraw his initial investment of $1000.

B thought that A is some kind of financial genius, & thus invest in it. Why not, by 12months not only would he withdraw his investment $1000, he would had gained $2400 in monthly dividends, better than placing the $1000 in a bank that would only gained $60 in 1 yr...

Little did he know that he would see probably see only $400, with delays for other months because after 3mths, A would had fled the country after luring many more others to such a scheme. For every 1000 person he conned, he would had obtained $1 million.

 

[Willamshakespear]

Multi Level Marketing.

It is another form of pyramid structure, but is only legitimate because a product had been exchanged for cash, unlike a full pyramid scheme as nothing was exchanged for money given except words.

MLM is just a distributorship concept which does not cancel out the middleman, but only advertising & logistic costs to an original manufacturer.

How it works:-

1) A - a factory owner who is manufacturing milk powder & had difficulty in finding buyers & market share.

2) He was approached by B, who is a bizman with connections to people in high places, claimed that he had a million followers whom would buy his product, would take care of the marketing, advertising & logistics, but the price must be right.

3)A deal was struck - A would sell the milk powder to B at 70% of market price. ( buy at $17.50 while market price is $25 for each 1.2kg packet )

4)B then uses his influence & oratory skills, to convince his core group of friends, to join his MLM scheme. Each would be made a diamond member, earning 7% commission for each milk powder sold. ($1.75cts/pkt) Should they be able to recruit downlines, they diamond members each will get additional 3% (75cts) in commission.

Although the commission seems small, if one is able to sell 100 pkts in a week, it will be $175/wk or more, as milk power is a daily essential foodsource. OR, the diamond member can use his family members, relatives, friends - his network, to buy & recruit MORE downline members, with a potential passive income of $750/wk for himself... and each of his downlines will receive 3% commission, & should they be able to recruit more members-1000 followers, they will be upgraded to the pyramid tiers - diamond -7% com, gold - 6% com, silver - 5%, etc, etc.

5)B knows that the MLM scheme would not be sustainable for the long run as each product has a life cycle. Thus he would approach other manufacturers to work out the same deal with A, & offer it as another product within the MLM scheme.

On paper, the MLM seems legitimate & sustainable, but in the end, there is only so many people that one can recruit. Those at the bottom tiers would never see any perceptible earnings for their efforts put in, but the ones at the top structure are laughing all the way to the banks. And worse, those at the bottom tiers & new recruits are made or pay to listen to so called ' Performances talks' to boost their fledging sales....spending even more than they are earning...

B knows this. Within his organization, there would be a professional mgmt team, & would had warned him the same. After some time, or by the 30th level, the MLM would be unsustainable. Thus he will either have to make preparations - such as sell the enterprise to a naive millionaire, find more products to market, or just run away. Most just run away with the wealth they obtained....

 

[GUDANGARAM]

Cpf is a pyramid scheme also. New cpf members’ funds being used to pay for members above 85yo

 

[syed putra]

Cpf is a pyramid scheme also. New cpf members’ funds being used to pay for members above 85yo

Same with insurance.

 

[Willamshakespear]

There are many biz models in a free market, but it does not mean it guarantees honesty. Thus DUE DILENGENCE HAVE to be carried out before parting with any one's hard earned earnings. Nothing is free in this world, and anything to seems too good to be true, is often too good to be TRUE.

In the mid late 1990s, MLM- a legitimate biz concept, perhaps pushed by lobbies within US congress from the highly successful US Amway Corp which is an MLM concept (& became a nightmare to consumers), to change legislators definition of pyramid schemes to acceptance, which is then copied Worldwide, the insignificant nobody me had often wondered the DETAILS...

By the mid 2000s, MLM was was the rage in free market societies such as in Malaysia & Singapore...

What I had learnt about MLM was not from books, but personal experience...

I had closed a mega but difficult deal that took a year to successful conclusion, & granted a 3 mths Sabbatical leave. Instead of partying in Ibiza Spain which I could well have afforded, I chose to enter into the dark world of MLM, NOT at the bottom, but right at the top, to make discoveries.

Thru my often dealings with bizmen after office hrs, it is a wonder that alcohol would loosen closed lips. Thus I got to know from them that a bizman in Msia was attempting to start another MLM enterprise. I did my research & made contact & integrated with the target's close contacts, & within days, I was invited for an interview at an informal setting in Msia, a mere shopping center cafe, with his inner core of associates.

I must had impressed him, as he asked me difficult questions but answered forthrightly, as best as my knowledge in biz & Tech could help me. On the spot, I was hired, given a condo apartment with perks. As I shook his hands, I thank him for his confidence in me, & told him despite my limited knowledge, I would work with others to ensure the success of the legitimate enterprise, as I am a Team player, with others whom had far more vast experiences & guanxi (connections) in Msia.

It was well received by others in his core team whom rose to toast me with drinks, to welcome me into their inner circle...with not even arduous CV resume or even a paper of identification of myself...but I had no doubt that the bizmen would had long checked & verified my credentials even before the informal meeting...

Even before I could host a house warming next day when I checked into my apartment, the inner core was already at work with discussions at meetings. There were several, with the bizman inner core, & then with hired professionals with Phds, to work out the details.

Within a few days, with details worked out, we went out on a whirlwind tour, to manufacturers, to meet up with previous or new teams that the inner core members had, over dinners at restaurants, with slide, projectors & online tech to reach out to others, to convince them to join in the enterprise, right up to even Datuks & Msia Royal family members, to lend their names to the project to earn more passive incomes....

Within mere weeks, the MLM enterprise was up & running. However, I had to leave, as I wanted no part in this fraud & my leave was coming to an end, because everyone in the inner core knows it was only a matter of time when it will become unsustainable.

Despite the bizman's appeal for me to stay, as I had contributed to his cause & promised me that I will have no worries about money & luxuries this life as long as he or I lived as a founding member, I knew such promises were mere hot air, that he had spoken to many more others when he closed down his other enterprises, & left them strung out, high & dry...

 

[sbfuncle]

Although the commission seems small, if one is able to sell 100 pkts in a week, it will be $175/wk or more, as milk power is a daily essential foodsource. OR, the diamond member can use his family members, relatives, friends - his network, to buy & recruit MORE downline members, with a potential passive income of $750/wk for himself... and each of his downlines will receive 3% commission, & should they be able to recruit more members-1000 followers, they will be upgraded to the pyramid tiers - diamond -7% com, gold - 6% com, silver - 5%, etc, etc.

I have lost a "friend" due to this shit and this "friend" used friendship as the main tool to push this shit by saying "walau after so many years of friendship you think I will con you.
This mlm thing is just like a religious cults

 

[laksaboy]

Your mistake is having a Linkedin account. Today it's nothing more than a Facebook-wannabe, owned by Microsoft.

And because Linkedin is owned by Microsoft, Microsoft will used Linkedin as a platform to data mine you and pimp you other Microsoft products and services.

 

[Aaron carter]

Linkedin is fucking full of shit.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-shitposters-of-linkedin/