The reporter learned from the industry and commerce department that most of the participants in traditional pyramid schemes are vulnerable groups with relatively low knowledge level. However, in recent years, people with relatively high knowledge level such as college students have been repeatedly deceived into joining pyramid schemes. In view of the reasons, Xinhua News Agency conducted an investigation.
Mao, who has many years of experience in cracking down on pyramid schemes, believes that college students participate in pyramid schemes first because of the current employment pressure. College graduates and their families have high expectations for employment, and students are eager to find jobs and are easily tempted by pyramid schemes. Xiao Yuan recalled, "It is too difficult to find a job now. When I heard that there is a good job, who wouldn't want to try? "
Secondly, there are not many ways for college students to find jobs at present. In addition to attending job fairs, the recommendation of relatives, friends or intermediaries is also an important way for students to find jobs, which makes it possible for pyramid schemes to deceive students. Some students who have been cheated told reporters, "They take all kinds of means, as long as they cheat you to them, they are basically half successful."
Mao introduced that pyramid schemes are "experienced" and made up a set of rhetoric to cover up the deception of pyramid schemes. They often claim that "if you develop your relatives and friends into your downline, you will make money, and if your relatives and friends develop downline, they will also make money." If you continue to develop layer by layer, you and your relatives and friends will not suffer. " MLM organizations have been supplemented by various brainwashing methods. Students who are not deeply involved in the world can't stand the impact. It is difficult to see the deception of "cheating money online and losing money offline". With the dream of making money, they began to pull their classmates and family members to join the MLM organization. Over the years, Mao saw many students fall into pyramid schemes and quickly involved their classmates and relatives in pyramid schemes.
Students have been living on campus, have no social experience, have poor discrimination ability, and are easily deceived by pyramid schemes, especially by relatives and friends caught in pyramid schemes.
College students' participation in pyramid schemes not only does great harm to college students and their families, but also increases the difficulty for industrial and commercial departments to crack down on pyramid schemes.
Experts pointed out that the knowledge level of college students is relatively high. Once they are deeply involved in pyramid schemes, it is possible to transform traditional pyramid schemes with new technologies, making pyramid schemes more hidden and destructive. The reporter learned from the industrial and commercial department of Hunan Province that some MLM organizations have also learned to work in an information-based way, use paid software for financial management, and trick netizens into joining MLM in the name of emerging formats such as Internet "e-commerce" and "online direct sales".
When MLM organizations use new technologies such as the Internet, its influence scope and diffusion speed increase, pyramid schemes are hidden, servers located outside the country are difficult to supervise, cross-regional pyramid schemes need regional coordination, and it is difficult to obtain evidence afterwards because of virtual identity, which brings new challenges to the industrial and commercial departments in cracking down on pyramid schemes.
The MLM trap under the peak of job hunting
Recalling the experience of being cheated into a pyramid scheme last year, Xiao Yuan of a university in Hunan still has a lingering fear.
Last spring, Xiao Yuan, who was worried about employment, suddenly received a phone call from a classmate. "I got a job in Wuhan, and the benefits are not bad. It's still hiring. Come and have a look. " Xiao Yuan was a little touched, but thinking that Wuhan was a stranger, he didn't immediately agree, saying that he had to think about it first. The next day, my classmates called again. "This is a rare opportunity. You'd better come Even if you don't like this job, you can take it as a trip. " Thank you for your kindness. Xiao Yuan went to Wuhan with his resume.
When he arrived at his classmate's residence, Xiao Yuan was taken to a big room and said it was internal training. Because "training should be kept secret", Xiao Yuan's mobile ID card was taken away. In the next few days, an "expert" explained on the stage how to "be a direct seller in the new era and become a multi-millionaire within three years", provided that you pay 3,800 yuan to obtain the membership of the company, and then you have the right to introduce your family and friends to join, "make money together".
After a few days of brainwashing, Xiao Yuan, who is still wet behind the ears, fainted. After paying 3800 yuan, he immediately contacted his family and said "there is a good opportunity to make money". Until the Hunan Industrial and Commercial Department received a report from Xiao Yuan's family, it sent someone to Wuhan to rescue her, and it took two or three hours in a row to explain the deception and harm of pyramid schemes to her in combination with a large number of pyramid schemes.
The industrial and commercial personnel involved in the rescue told reporters that what Xiao Yuan encountered was actually a basic pyramid scheme. "The implementation of pulling people's heads, one pulling three, three pulling nine, taking the money off the assembly line, the MLM leader earned the most, and all the assembly lines were cheated. In the end, I was ruined and my wife was separated. "
Ellen, long-haired from the Economic Inspection Corps of Hunan Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce, told reporters that every March and April, when college graduates are anxious about job hunting, MLM organizations also begin to "recruit". They take advantage of the current job-hunting pressure of college students and their eagerness to find jobs, and cheat students into MLM organizations under the guise of "high salary and high welfare recruitment" or "low investment and high return entrepreneurship". Some MLM organizations cheat college students through online recruitment.
According to the statistics of the industrial and commercial department of Hunan Province, in 20 10, the pyramid scheme cases cracked by the industrial and commercial department of Hunan Province involved more than 600 students, and these more than 600 rescued students were basically students from universities in other provinces. Due to the characteristics of MLM organizing off-site activities, many college students in Hunan Province were tricked into going to other provinces to engage in MLM, and the number of them lacked accurate statistics.
How to avoid it
Experts suggest strengthening employment guidance and services.
In recent years, Hunan Province has established a "trinity" cooperation mechanism of education, universities and industry and commerce in colleges and universities to crack down on pyramid schemes, and launched a publicity campaign to "prevent pyramid schemes from entering the campus", which vividly exposed and criticized the deception means, operation mode and activity scenes of pyramid schemes in the form of sitcoms. The education system in Hunan Province also strives to create a "MLM-free campus" to further improve students' ability to identify and prevent pyramid schemes.
Many experts believe that in order to prevent college students from being cheated into pyramid schemes, a long-term mechanism to combat pyramid schemes must be established for the campus.
According to Mao, at present, many students don't know enough about pyramid schemes, so while further strengthening the crackdown on pyramid schemes, they should go deep into the students for publicity. This requires colleges and universities as the main body to organize regular lectures on anti-MLM knowledge for college students, publicize anti-MLM knowledge by using school newspapers, school websites and other media, and distribute anti-MLM books and materials.
Ouyang Zengtong, deputy director of the Student Office of Hunan Provincial Department of Education, reminded that colleges and universities should regularly provide employment guidance and services for graduates, popularize some basic information on job hunting, and avoid college students' employment falling into pyramid schemes. At the same time, honesty education for college students should also be included in the daily life of major universities.
Education experts remind college graduates to attend job fairs organized by the school as much as possible when choosing jobs, because the employers at these job fairs have undergone strict qualification examination and are relatively safe. If you attend other job fairs or apply for jobs online, graduates should not believe each other's description of the company. They should check whether the company is legally registered on the Red Shield website of the local industrial and commercial bureau, or call the information desk 1 14 to check whether the recruitment information has been released. After verifying the identity of the other party and the authenticity of the company in detail, make a decision on whether to go for an interview.
The person in charge of the Employment Guidance Center of Hunan Provincial Department of Education said that the employment of college graduates is very important. The funds allocated by the state for employment and re-employment should be really used for the employment of college graduates, so as to truly broaden the employment channels for graduates and increase employment choices.