Multi-Level Marketing: Your Product is You | 162

Scamfluencers

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.1 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Multi-level marketing businesses like Mary Kay, HerbaLife, and Amway are so ubiquitous, it's almost hard to imagine where they started or how deep their influence goes. In this special episode of Scamfluencers, Sarah Hagi talks with Bridget Read about her new book, Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America. She spent years researching the origins of the “pyramid scheme,” a twist on the classic Ponzi scam, and she talks about who is most vulnerable to these massive, billion-dollar frauds, and why they’ve become unavoidable today.

Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter

Listen to Scamfluencers on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/scamfluencers/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, Scam Fluencers fans, Sarah here.
0:02.8	If you love the drama, deception, and mind-blowing reveals, Wondery Plus is your VIP ticket to more.
0:09.2	Add free episodes, early access to the juiciest scandals, and deep dives you won't find anywhere else.
0:15.1	Get the full Scampluencers experience. Sign up today.
0:29.3	Asachi, have you had the experience of like a random stranger from your past?
0:34.3	All of a sudden, changing their entire social media presence, you know, posting pictures of them with perfect makeup, they're on fabulous vacations, talking about self-empowerment and being their own boss.
0:42.6	And you just know they've joined an MLM.
0:46.7	Honestly, I don't see a lot of this.
0:48.4	And I think it's a testament to how disinterested I stay in other people's lives.
0:53.6	You know what it is?
0:54.4	Like, it's something you would have seen from people you knew in high school or when you worked, like, other jobs.
1:01.5	And then you kind of see it in your 20s.
1:03.4	And by now you've probably removed them from who you see.
1:06.1	Yeah, they're just not in my life.
1:07.8	I actually did have one person trying and recruit me. It was someone I'd worked
1:11.9	retail with, like, for many years. And she kind of hits me up. And I'm like, oh, yeah, you know,
1:18.7	we were friends at work. Maybe she wants to get coffee or something. And it turns out it was a
1:24.8	multi-level marketing scheme. Very quickly, did I realize it was?
1:28.0	I was like, she's never been interested in me.
1:30.6	And now she wants me to be my own boss?
1:32.0	Why does she care?
1:34.0	She was not trying to empower you.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.