Amway – no way?
TIOL-DDT 351- 28 04 2006 asked, “Is multi level marketing (MLM) like Amway illegal?”. It was suggested that “In India , money circulation schemes are banned under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.” Yesterday the Criminal Investigation Department of the Andhra Pradesh Police raided Amway offices right across the state and booked cases under the Act. Amway has penetrated deep into all walks of life with unsuspecting dreamers wanting to get rich quick becoming committed ambassadors. While they try to sell soap and hope – mostly hope, most of them do not realize that the activity is illegal, after all they are in a trance, hypnotized into believing that the quality of life is to be enhanced and they are going to become rich in the process. What ultimately happens is that families are ruined and the money does not come. Many government servants and their spouses are deeply involved in this multi level marketing scam and the government offices have become virtual market place for these messengers of money. Once these people are lured into this business, nothing stops them until ultimate destruction. People would get up at 5 in the morning to drive a 100 kms to attend a meeting, because they are told, “the only reasonable excuse for missing this meeting is your own funeral” And they believe it.
The US based Amway has found fanatic followers in China and India that it is now almost an Asian company. Amway’s chairman for a quarter of a century is a Republican candidate for the 2006 Governor’s election of Michigan state in USA. He has promised to work without a salary if elected.
Whether Amway is legal or illegal, it is certainly illegal for government servants to be actively promoting the MLM culture.