Korean Job Discussion Forums

[beast]

So she started getting into Amway about three months ago. Her sister told her she'd make millions and blah blah blah. She got me to go to a meeting once. Some guy in a skin tight suit talking about how he has realized all his dreams now because of Amway. Dude goes on and on about how many millions he saves every month and how Amway people are so wonderful. The Koreans in the audience hang on his every word. At the end of the night he takes the subway home to his mother's apartment. My girlfriend loves Amway and can't get enough of it. I said I'm not going to another meeting, so she had to make the hard choice between Amway and me. She chose Amway, I don't blame her. I have nothing to offer her, but those Amway snakes are something else. I'm hoping I got her pregnant so when all those millions upon millions start rolling in I'll have a claim to some of it.

[Demophobe]

Yep...Amways and Herbalife...international vultures. There are many Korean-founded pyramid schemes, but they seem to be more localized. Aloemaim, for example. My wife got into both Herbalife and Amway briefly...I just told her how I felt and leat her run with it. She spent some cash, but soon lost interest when she realized how much crappy, in-your-face, con-artist type selling that needs to be done to make any money.
A funny story: My neighbor's mother-in-law was into the Aloemaim thing. She constantly paper-bombed me with sales booklets, pamphlets, etc... One day she brough over a case of this breakfast drink...about 30 satchels in the case. She told me that this one was on her...in Korean she said "just take it". I thought this was a freebie to get me hooked. As she was walking away, she said in a very low, casual voice that I could pay her monthly for it. Before I could stop her, she had scurried into her apartment and locked the door. I went over and asked her how much this was. 130,000 Won!!! I told her to keep it and she smiled and muttered something unintelligible and closed the door. So I hung it on her door handle and rang her bell again and ran into my pad.
She was a really nice lady, but obviously she had invested money just as in Amway, and was desparate to recover her losses.
We continued an amiable relationship after that, but a somewhat muted one.

[beast]

Then she gave me a pair of Amway socks. I didn't wear them, but I used one of them. He he he, and then threw it out the window.

[rapier]

I went to an amway meeting once and walked out halfway through, thus starting an avalanche of deserters...I know what is real and whats not, instantly.
Pyramid schemes are almost designed to uniquely appeal to the Korean psyche... the idea that you can achieve anything rapidly based on appearances and patter. Women are particularly vulnerable to this, and are drawn by appearances.
This is what people the world over fall for, fall in love with: an illusion. Illusion is indeed more important than reality.

[canuckistan]

Scamway doesn't make its money on having you "sell their products" to people....they make their money on getting YOU to buy all those motivational flavour-of-the-week books and tapes ("On your way to financial freedom!!!!") and traveling to those weekend sales meetings--to get pitched to buy more tapes and books.
Their products aren't cheaper or better than anybody else's.
That's the scam.

[PatrickSiheung]

What you said is true for any Network Marketing company. They are all a load of crap.

[Son Deureo!]

[the saint]

I can empathise with you... Amway stole a good student of mine in Japan. Same old deal.

Went to an Amway meeting in the UK once. The saddest people I've ever ever met....

[tomato]

Two years ago, I had a roommate who was an Amway addict.
One day, he was all excited.
He invited 40 Korean people to a Amway meeting at our apartment and they all said yes.
Only 1 showed up. That person had a dealership in hyudaepones, so he was using the opportunity to give my roommate a sales talk of his own.
Poor fellow, he learned the hard way that Koreans are too polite to say no.

All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't wake up my roommate from the Amway dream.
He had been in the game for 3 years and hadn't realized a profit, but he only apologizes for "not trying hard enough."
He has seen the numrous anti-Amway Websites, but he merely says that
the authors of those Websites didn't try hard enough and are looking for a scapegoat.

Beast, I hope you get your girlfriend back, but I can't promise anything.
I went into the Amazon site and ordered two books written by people who got rescued from Amway. I loaned the books to him, but he denounced the books as lies.

[phaedrus]

I stayed in the Shilla Hotel, and they had Amway toothpaste for 6000 won in the room. Not comparatively overpriced cause the toothbrush and everything else was the same price. Not sure Amway says hotel quality though.

[mindmetoo]

[PatrickSiheung]

LOL so true. And it's the same with any other MLM company. I remember last year after reading some Robert Kiyosaki books I was interested in MLM. He said they were a great learning tool. So I went on the hunt for a good one that would teach me some things about business.

They all had great sales pitches about being able to make as much money as I wanted, but when asked simple questions about the products or what they could teach me about running a business, they all had the same tired responses, "We have a great system in place... this company has no debt... We're backed by a company that has been publically traded for 10 years..." But they all dodged the questions I was asking.

And you're right Mindmetoo... MLMs never once try and sell the products, they all sell the Idea of making money. And all these people that are joining these companies to make money don't realize something of major importance... the millionaire running the show didn't get rich doing what they are doing, they got rich conning ignorant people into joining their scheme.

Makes my skin crawl.

[Dr. Buck]

Patrick Siheung--- I read the Kiyosaki books myself and when I learned that he was involved with MLM schemes, his credibility in my eyes dropped. I think his book teaches some good financial lessons and wisdom, but the dropped hints about MLM and his lame references to his cash flow game was in very poor and greedhead taste.

As for Korean MLM schemes, here's one: I was a male model for a day, wearing my best business suit and raybans, I spent the day in a video photo shoot with two Korean hotties hanging off of each arm. Made 300,000 for the day and it was an interesting experience. The company--forgot the name--was a hardcore Korean version of Amway, and the large cafeteria-like meeting room was packed with a couple hundred people--all with warped and desperate looks in their eyes. I think MLM scams are incredibly well-suited for the Korean social mindset, with their personal networks of school chums, regional associations, university alumni conections, family tree branches that go everywhere, etc. Lots of people to network into your pyramid.

Too bad people buy into a scam that can be proven absurd with common sense and a few math illustrations.

[lush72]

I have found that Amyway does really well here- it is a company that preys on the inherent greed of the locals. If there was any company that could exploit the korean omnipresent desire to get rich quick, while avoiding these peoples weakly tuned bs detectors, Amyway is it!

A few weeks ago I was reading how a korean was caught scamming other koreans in an ��cash for organs�� scam. The heavily in credit card debt koreans responded to an ad to sell a kidney. The scam was having these marks pay for ��medical tests�� before they could become donors. Another scam was a church member claiming he invented a water to fuel converter. IMO it seems that koreans are particularly at risk for scams preying on their basic greediness . Someone should help them.

[PatrickSiheung]