"My Mum Is In Her Final Stage of Cancer; My Dad Spent His Savings On MLM"

Singaporeans who lost money to MLM

Overtime Singaporeans are writing into Seedly to share their experience with us, with regards to their encounter with some of the MLM schemes in Singapore.

As most of these stories end up in monetary loss, we see the need to share them with our readers to prevent Singaporeans from falling into the prey of such schemes.

Before we get to the ultimate list of MLM companies in Singapore, here are some short stories from our community members.

“Mum in her final stage of cancer. Dad became an easy target for MLM products”

Editor’s note: Below is a true story from one of our Seedly Personal Finance Community Members. All information is from the point of view of the member.

My mum is in her final stage of cancer, a stage where there is nothing else that the doctor can do except to adjust the dosage of her painkiller as she waits it out.

My dad, hence, became an easy target for MLM products in his desperation to find a cure for mum.

He is usually the smarter person in the family, but with this, he had now spent $6,200 on close to 70 bottles of “miracle healing medicine”. All from his retirement savings, in a span of 2 months.

All of which, now, non-refundable.

As it hurts to see my dad go down this path, I am writing this to Seedly in an attempt to raise awareness with regards to this issue. Here’s what happened.

Riway PURTIER Placenta

• It all started with a not so close friend of my dad who managed to overheard the condition in which my mum is in.
• This friend reached out to my dad claiming that he knows of a scientifically proven pill that can help improve my mum’s condition.
• Desperate, my dad agreed to meet him.
• Dad was led to a conference venue with luxury cars parked at the entrance and greeted with men in tight suit.
• At the event, dad was flooded with examples of how cancer victim got better after taking the pills.
• Dad ends up buying more than $3,800 worth of pills.
• Here’s an example of the video:

One can read more about Purtier Placenta on Hardwarezone too.

Sadly, my mum’s condition took a turn for the worse.

Maxpine Moringa Elixir

The next was actually by a close friend who took the time to visit my bed-ridden mum. In this case, the method is a little different.

• Dad was given two free bottles of Moringa Elixir, out of goodwill.
• Close friend starts visiting my mum more often.
• Close friend never fails to compliment how much healthier my mum looks ever since her intake of Moringa Elixir.
• On his fourth visit, he asked my dad to stock up on more, promising him a special rate.
• Convinced, dad bought $2,400 worth of Moringa Elixir(48 bottles).

Editor’s Note:

• If These Medicines Are So Effective, Why Aren’t They Sold In Hospitals? 
• Why are medicines as such allowed to sell freely all over the internet? Are they more of a supplement (eg. Vitamins) than medicine like they claim to be? 

“I lost $40,000 to Agarwood scam.”

Editor’s note: Below is a true story from one of our Seedly Personal Finance Community Members. All information is from the point of view of the member.

• I was supposed to put in $40,000 and get back quite a good percentage of returns after a few years.
• As I fully trusted the company, I did not check on the status of my money often.
• I needed some money recently and thought of getting back my money through the Agarwood investment which I invested in.
• I am still waiting for my payment till date. It’s been a year.

Over the past years, you might have encountered some of the scenarios:

• Random strangers adding you on Facebook and Linkedin, telling you that they have a good business proposal which they would love to offer you.
• Relatives and friends attempting to sell you a certain healthcare product and wished to invite you down to their office for a talk.

In fact, messages like the one below are very common these days on social media.

Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) is NOT LEGAL in Singapore.

Contrary to popular belief, most Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies are NOT LEGAL in Singapore. Despite the law that is in place by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, efforts to clamp down on these schemes could have been better.

Three types of companies that are exempted from the Act are:

• Insurance companies
• Master franchises
• Direct selling companies

What is Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)?

• requires participants to pay an upfront charge, or purchase a certain number of the company’s product.
• participants are then promised financial rewards for each additional participant recruited, as well as all new members who are in turn brought in by their recruits – hence the pyramid-like structure.
• As more salespersons are recruited, members are expected to recover their upfront charges and earn sizeable profits.
• MLM scheme eventually fails when they run out of new recruits. The latest recruited salespersons will hence, lose all their upfront charges.

Common traits of illegal MLM

• Such companies come in many forms, and many times on products that are really hard to verify or trace.
  (eg. Medication that is not found in clinics or hospitals, property investment in Dubai, motivational workshops that encourages recruitment of more friends)
• They promote and hype about how easy it is to get very rich in a very short time
• The so-called product that you are supposed to sell is not something you would normally buy at its price
• To be a member, one is required to invest a sum of money into their scheme of buying an inventory of their products.

Not all MLM structure is illegal in Singapore. Pyramid schemes are.

If you know of a certain business schemes are actually illegal multi-level marketing or pyramid selling schemes, you can report to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) at telephone number 6325 0000 or lodge a report at 391 New Bridge Road, #06-701 Block D, Police Cantonment Complex, Singapore 088762.

Who are the likely victims to illegal MLM?

There are a certain demographics of people who are more likely to fall into the trap of illegal MLMs.

• Students in their polytechnics/JC/University days with little knowledge of entrepreneurship
• Retirees who are not very well-versed on getting information online

Hence, do keep a close watch loved ones to prevent unnecessary monetary losses.

Compilation of MLM Companies in Singapore from forums

• Here’s a list of the more prominent companies that are operating in Singapore that Singaporeans should pay extra attention to.
  *Slight possibility that some of the companies might be legal. Always do your own research.
• If you have any bad encounter with any company that is not on the list, do reach out to Seedly!
• One can check if the company is a member of the Direct Selling Association of Singapore here.

*Disclaimer: The above list are MLM companies operating in Singapore. Companies such as Amway and Tupperware are legal and approved by the DSA of Singapore. Consumers should always do their research before coming to a conclusion to join a legal MLM company should he feels the benefit to. One should stay away from illegal MLM companies.