UK anti-MLM advocates, here is a little plan to make use of the current election campaign.
Your candidates will go into a new government after the 4th of July and this is our opportunity to reach out and get their attention on MLMs.
Please help by writing to all the candidates in your constituency! Ask them to make a statement on MLMs.
Here is a template letter you can send to your candidates for election for MP to demand change in the MLM system of abuse! We do not want MLM abuses in our backyards!!! SHARE THIS WITH OTHER UK FRIENDS!
Dear [MP Candidate’s Name],
I am writing to you to express my grave concerns regarding the ongoing issues with Multilevel Marketing, Network Marketing, Social Selling, Direct Selling and other such so called ‘Work From Home Opportunities’. These organisations are known to be a huge financial burden on people. The majority of these organisations are based abroad, with offices in the UK and a few of them operate right HERE in the UK, started and run by UK citizens.
Please could you share your stance on these so called ‘Work From Home Opportunities’ and let me know what immediate action you will take once you are elected?
Would you be bringing this issue to the attention of Parliament and our future Prime Minister?
As my future representative/local MP, I believe it is your duty to address these pressing matters to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens.
Lately we have seen minor improvements at Action Fraud regarding the ‘Work From Home’ scam category they have added and the explanation they give to consumers about what these scams are, however we still do not see enough being done to protect consumers from these scams in the first place. Reference Action Fraud: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud/work-from-home-scams
It is crucial for Parliament to implement stricter regulations and monitoring mechanisms to protect individuals from further harm. This includes ensuring that law enforcement agencies have the resources and support needed to investigate and act on reports of abuse effectively.
Numerous credible reports have documented the systemic financial abuse of consumers within the UK and a group of over 3,800 advocates and victims has lots of evidence of these reports. These accounts include cases of psychological abuse, coercive control, and the exploitation of vulnerable individuals as well as the fore mentioned financial abuse.
Research has shown that 99% of people who get hooked into these ‘Work From Home Opportunities’ lose their money or at most break even. This means that the earning potential as a legitimate ‘Work From Home’ career is negligible, there is no real earning potential, no employment, no career or business opportunity and more importantly no opportunities for ‘Independent Consultants or Contractors’.
This is what these organisations hide behind; that all their ‘sales representatives’ are independent contractors or consultants, so self employed, which sets the organisation free from having to pay minimum wages to people who often work more than 40 hours a week trying to sell the organisation‘s products or services. The majority of people earn little to nothing. Even the DSA-UK, their self regulating body (https://dsa.org.uk), the Average Earnings for a Direct Seller in the UK is £833 a month, that is only £9,996 per year, or £5.20 per hour full time, when minimum wages are more than double that, even on a part time basis, this would be below minimum wages.
The organisations behind these schemes are often cultish and use coercion to get people to part with more of their money and stay in the group. Some people reported decades of being involved with these groups without ever making any money at all.
This is akin to slavery if these groups are seen as genuine business opportunities.
Every single one of these groups encourage people to recruit more people into the scam. Action Fraud rightly so warns about Pyramid Schemes and Advance Fee scams, but this goes beyond the definition of these defined by Action Fraud.
In some cases these schemes do not ask anyone to pay an Advance Fee, they are free to join, the payments come with the commitments they hold over people’s heads with promises of bonuses and payouts as long as they’ve recruited new people into the scheme and spent X amount on products and/or services every month of every 3 months. People are forced to buy products they may not want or need, just to fulfil a requirement set by the scheme in order to remain a member of the scheme.
The major issue with the Pyramid Scheme description is the “non-existent or worthless product” since most of these groups exist with the premise of selling products and/or services, beauty, health care, supplements, weight loss, home accessories, insurance policies, mobile phone services, utilities such as gas and electricity, they all offer products or services, which to some people are not worthless, and as such these organisations would not be considered a Pyramid Scheme, this is the loophole through which these scams can exist in the UK.
These so called ‘Work From Home Opportunities’ ought to be banned outright. Given the evidence of abusive practices, it is unacceptable for such organisations to continue to exist and take advantage of UK citizens in the way they do. I believe Parliament must debate the criteria for Pyramid Schemes and consider applying this status for groups engaged in harmful activities, whether they hide behind products or services or not.
There is also concern about the tax implications for these organisations. They exist in the UK and according to the DSA-UK, their self regulating body (https://dsa.org.uk), the Economic Contribution from their Members is £1 Billion a year, not all these organisations are members of the DSA-UK, yet when you look at some of these organisations on Companies House, they seem to be running at a loss of millions of pounds year on year. This would mean that there is no taxes being paid by these organisations. There is no real economic benefit to the country for these organisations to exist.
It is imperative that Parliament investigates these organisations thoroughly and views these organisations in connection to racketeering and pyramid scheme practices and holds those responsible accountable.
I strongly urge you to take these issues to Parliament and demand that comprehensive measures be put in place to address and prevent further abuses from these schemes. It is essential that Parliament also holds itself accountable for the protection of its citizens and takes a firm stand against such injustices.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. I look forward to your response and to seeing decisive action taken on this issue.
Yours sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Contact Information]
For ease of use here is a downloadable version in PDF that you can easily convert into a word document and edit to make it your own.
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