| MLM_Survivors_Club A discussion group for people who've survived MLM. |
| Multilevel_Marketing_Plans Tips from the Federal Trade Commission regarding MLMs. |
| Personal_Experience__Mary_Kay_Cosmetics Associate recounts her negative experience with the company. |
| PinkLightHouse_com Ex-Mary Kay consultants offer news, stories, testimonials and forum on negative experiences with the company. |
| Pyramid_Scheme_Alert Exposes, studies and aims to prevent illegal pyramid schemes. Site includes news, alerts, resources, legal information, updates and consumer information about a number of companies and MLMs operating |
| Skeptic\'s_Dictionary__multi-level_marketing Encyclopedia-type article about multi-level marketing. |
| The_Truth_About_Marketing_Plans Information on evaluating network marketing plans. |
| What\'s_Wrong_With_Multi-Level_Marketing? Business analysis of 4 major systemic problems with MLM: 1) Market Saturation, 2) Pyramid Structure, 3) Morality and Ethics, and 4) Relationship Costs |
| WorldWide_Scam_Network,_The Parodies of and information about the multi-level marketing scams, frauds, and rip-offs. |
| Metabolife_probe_launched Metabolife International, the leading seller of the controversial weight-loss supplement ephedra, is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. (August 15, 2002) |
| Bigsmart_Pyramid_Promoters_Settle_FTC_Charges Federal Trade Commission press release announces that Darrin Epps and Edward Lamont are barred for life from participating in multi-level marketing schemes. (August 9, 2001) |
| MetroActive__Shaking_the_Money_Tree by Amy Chen Mills- "From Amway to Equinox, multilevel marketing schemes have won 7 million devotees on the promise of unlimited wealth and freedom. But when the numbers don't add up, distributors lose |
| Annual_U_S__Hydrogen_Conference Annual meeting of the National Hydrogen Association, covering many of the emerging research and developments in hydrogen technologies, such as fuel cells, storage, and hydrogen production. |
| Arizona_Hydrogen Manufactures a range of gas generators for the production of hydrogen and oxygen . |
| Atomic_Hydrogen_Source The H-flux Atomic Hydrogen Source thermally dissociates hydrogen in an electron bombardment heated tungsten capillary. Used for surface science and thin film technology. |
| California_Hydrogen_Business_Council Offers hydrogen information with a slant on applications in California. |
| Compagnie_Européenne_des_Technologies_de_l\'Hydrogène Develops decentralized hydrogen generators for stationary and transport applications. Products include catalytic membrane reactors for converting bioethanol, and electrolyzers. |
| Coval_H2_Partners California company integrating battery-powered and hybrid-electric vehicles and stationary power systems. Overview of current and future application areas. |
| Elettronica_Todescato Production generators of hydrogen and oxygen that produce the two gases with the solo use of electric energy and water. |
| Energy_Consultants,_LLP Offers business advisory services for harvesting revenue from fuel cell, hydrogen, wind power and other emerging energy or renewable energy technologies. |
| ForeverGreen_Enterprises,_Inc_ Aims to provide technology for converting waste materials into hydrogen using a plasma-based process. Overview of business, applications, and technology. |
| General_Hydrogen Develops technologies and invests in companies for hydrogen infrastructure. |
| H2Gen_Innovations_Inc_ Dedicated to developing, manufacturing and bringing to market low-cost, small-scale hydrogen generators for industrial applications and for the emerging fuel cell vehicle and distributed fuel cell pow |
| H2scan Offers solid-state sensors and process monitors able to quantify hydrogen without cross-sensitivities to other substances. |
| Hydro-gen Offers skid-mounted catalytic steam reforming units for converting hydrocarbons to hydrogen, especially for use in fuel cells. Located in Italy. |
| The_Hydrogen_&_Fuel_Cell_Investor Hydrogen, fuel cells, and investing in an emerging technology. Links to the information available on the Internet. |
| The_Hydrogen_Company Offers a range of hydrogen-related product lines, including fuel cells, catalysts, electrolyzers, portable power units, gas detection systems, and educational materials. |
| Hydrogen_Power_Inc_ Developing hydrogen supply systems based on reacting water with aluminum to form aluminum oxide. |
| Hydrogen_Technology_Applications,_Inc_ Company commercializing novel water electrolysis technology, claimed to be more energy-efficient than traditional electrolysis. Currently marketing a hydrogen gas generator welder. |
| HyRadix Develops fuel processing technology for producing hydrogen for fuel cells and industrial applications, aimed at residential and small industrial markets. |
| Millennium_Cell,_Inc_ Develops technology for separating hydrogen out of raw materials, and producing hydrogen that can be used to generate electricity and power vehicles. |
| MRT Developer of a fluidized-bed membrane reactor process to produce pure hydrogen from natural gas in a single step. Overview of technology, industrial and fuel-cell applications, and company profile. |
| Norsk_Hydro_Electrolysers Manufacture of alkaline electrolysis hydrogen generators, based in Norway. |
| PowerNova_Technologies_Corporation Develops and commercializes hydrogen production technology for fuel cells. |
| Proton_Energy_Systems_Inc_ Manufacturer of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers and fuel cell products. |
| Quantiam_Technologies_Inc_ Focused on the development and commercialization of new products for the hydrogen economy as well as extreme materials applications in the aerospace, automotive and chemical process industries. |
| REB_Research_&_Consulting Sells membrane hydrogen purifiers, hydrogen getters, and membrane reactors to produce hydrogen from ammonia, methanol, or hydrocarbons, and offers consulting services in these areas. |
| Safe_Hydrogen Developing a pumpable magnesium hydride slurry for merchant hydrogen and fuel cell applications. Company profile and technology overview. |
| siGEN Fuel cell systems integrator in Scotland, offering a range of fuel cell and electrolysis products to industry and the general public. Provides online shopping. |
| Teledyne_Energy_Systems Specializing in electrolyzers for generation of hydrogen fuel cells, fuel cell test stations, and thermo-electric power systems for space and terrestrial applications. |
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Introduction A stable job with a future, or a scam that will leave you penniless? Sometimes it's not so easy to tell! Financial Consultant Due to expansion, nationally respected firm is seeking career minded individuals who desire training in all aspects of operating a branch office. Excellent career opportunity to earn $50,000 first-year management income. Prior experience desirable but not necessary. Call (XXX) XXX-XXXX for immediate interview. The above ad is NOT real. The author made it up as an example. Any resemblance to anyone's actual ad is coincidental. Sounds reasonable enough. You apply. Your interviewer advises you that the average rep in the industry makes over $100,000 a year, not just the low-end $50,000 advertised, and the firm will help you get there quickly. The risk sounds reasonable. You agree to pay over $700 for your licensing/background check, and in spite of your lack of experience, you are hired. You note upon the first day of the training class that the ten other new hires are primarily young and inexperienced. You stick it out and pass your exams; now you are told to create a list of friends and family that will serve as your leads, and you memorize a sales script. After six months of being a "star performer" slaving 60+ hours a week, you have grossed less than $5000, and a good portion of that has been depleted by "business costs" revealed to you only as they cropped up. Your leads are drying up. The help you were promised is now minimal as your manager focuses on attracting and training new reps. The vast majority of your original class has left (as well as even many reps hired after you), and you finally decide that the job involves far more risk than was represented to you. Although you signed a Non-Compete Agreement indicating that you must leave your clients behind when you leave, you still expect the commission trails from those clients' investments to continue to help support you while you seek new employment. You quit. The commission trails never come. You're not alone. I've just described one victim's experience*. In fact, this is one of the less extreme examples. Some reps leave heavily in debt because they've been convinced to pay as much as $75,000 for the licensing/background check as well as the firm's "exemplary" training classes. They may even have been advised to "fake it till you make it" and maxed out credit buying expensive business attire and a car beyond their means just to project a successful (but false) image. I am not describing the many legitimate financial services positions in which it takes months to establish a clientele but ultimately pays off. In a legitimate job, the risks are disclosed up front. With a scam job, the scammer deliberately misleads reps about the job's true earning potential and then profits on them till they are forced to quit for lack of income, and then continues to profit even after on their commission trails. In fact, it sets up the recruits to fail, much like many of today's illegal MLMs and pyramid schemes, continuously mining an inexperienced work force who is willing to pay to get "trained" to make a "fabulous" income and leave their hard-won clients behind as they fail. When the above-mentioned rep and over a dozen others sued the firm for fraud, the firm defended itself by pointing to its official corporate literature, which described an average rep being expected to earn only about $12,000 his first year!* Of course, each rep claimed to have never been informed of this. And the scammers don't just mine new college graduates and similarly inexperienced job hunters. Victims have included seasoned former attorneys, IT professionals, and even financial industry professionals seeking an exciting new opportunity. Perpetrators of these types of scams have become increasingly clever to avoid detection, and ultimately, prosecution. The law has yet to catch up. My goal is to help NEW COLLEGE GRADS and THOSE NEW TO THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY enter the field forewarned, aid those who have been defrauded, and do my part to help end the scam. Note that if you came here looking for evidence that a particular firm is involved in the scam, you will not find absolute proof here. I am not interested in getting sued; I am interested in imparting helpful information to victims and potential victims. The next pages describe an overview of the scam and then examine the components in detail as far as I can make them out. 
* Cases were found in public court records. A NOTE TO THOSE RESEARCHING JOBS, CAREERS, MLMs (multi-level marketing organizations, direct sellers, network marketers, viral marketers, consumer direct marketers, dual marketers, etc.) , SCAMS, FRAUDS, OR PYRAMID SCHEMES: If you stumbled onto this site during your research, you might as well read it in its entirety. Many of the points apply to you as well. At a bare minimum see the MLM section on the Links page and the Avoiding The Scam page. I admit to being quite anti-MLM. There is plenty of reason to be wary of any company utilizing MLM-type practices. This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.Rcolors=new Array("#FFCE9C","#FFFF9C","#EFF8AD","#C6EF8C","#A5DE94","#94D6CE","#94D6E7");Ccnt=Rcolors.length;MainColor=Rcolors[Math.floor((Math.random()*Ccnt))];SecondColor=Rcolors[Math.floor((Math.random()*Ccnt))];document.write('');Financial Advisorsdocument.write ('');document.write (''); [ ... Back | Join Now | Forum | Featured Sites | Forward ... ] document.write ('');document.write ('');Asset Managementdocument.write ('');Last update December 2006. This site's information may be reproduced freely; feel free to copy it to a mirror site but do check back occasionally for updates and give credit where credit is due. Information is intended for U.S. visitors.