World Venture deceptive sales practices pyramid scheme Canton, Ohio

While having lunch at Panera with my daughter, we overheard a loud saleswoman at the next table trying to sell what sounded like a total rip off. The company she worked for is called, World Ventures. It was a travel swindle where you pay $200 and $26 a month to join and then get the privilege of recruiting new members to pay the same. In return she said you get to be a member of something that sounded similar to a Scientology cult. When questioned, she criticized the questioner as a "loser" and "lazy". She stated that she knew many WV members who earned a free BMW within a couple of weeks. She said you could quit your job and "make a living" selling vacations to other people. She herself said she sold her nutrition company business to work full time with her husband for World Ventures. She claimed that the company flew her all over the country for free to attend education events and go on vacations for free.

It sounded like a multi-level marketing fraud so I checked it out online. I discovered that less than 0.01% of those who join actually make more money than they put into it. That is, 99.99% of members lose money and have nothing to show for it. A few successful members are touted as models. They are the ones who reap the money contributed by the other members. But a review of the companies financial information shows that it works like this. Say 100 people join and pay $200 plus $26 a month for a year, that is $50,000. Of that, one person is paid $25,000 and $25,000 goes to the founders and the company expenses. The other 99 members lose $500 to $600 a year and cannot quit. The company does not respond to email of phone calls. To promote the company, the one that got the $25,000 brags to all the others about how great of a sales person they are and how if you work hard, you can get a free BMW (lease) and make a lot of money too.

Worse yet, the product they sell, vacations that cost $200 per person per night, are more expensive by about 50% than what you could find on your own on the internet.

In fact World Ventures is all a lie. The company, like Scientology, is a cult set up to enrich a couple founders in Plano, Texas. By the way, they have both already been convicted of tax fraud and have multiple law suits pending against them for ripping off people.