Oops…again with a controversy !! But this time its not related to me …This is something which is happening around me since long ago.Few months before,one of my friend invited me for a chat,i always assume chats cant be successful without a beer ,but it was with a coffee and I hate this stuff.Why should one take cocaine ,if we have other options too 🙂 Neways,I dnt take it rather.Well my mood got pissed off, not because of coffee but its was again a MLM (Multi Level Marketing) concept which he wanted to discuss with me.I hate this funda as it involve hell lot of emotional atyachar with relatives and friends.But,he was so keen to make me understand the things which I knew already (I am keen observer of easy money making schemes).
The concept it very easy (when things looks easy,they are much complicated),invest 11000 bucks,fill some survey on internet and get 25$ per survey once in a week.So by simple mathemetics,you can earn 4000 Rs in a month and 48000 in a year.Really impressive.Eligibility for membership is,you should have 11000 rs (Only few knows that this money is not for registrations,its for their E megazine i.e. E-Zine)and you should be above 18 years (no proof you have to give for it).Wait wait…there is much more..in this concept they added MLM to earn more.Use your contacts,your relatives,your firends …motivate them to join this,and earn some % from them too.
I have many friends,who are basically in marketing and research domain,I talked with them,and they told me that no comanies is going to pay so much of price for these surveys.Few companies who do it, seeks people to meet certain qualification like an investor or some academic qualification etc.Then from where Speak Asia is distributing so much of money (yes people are getting).
So lets dig it …
1. Speak Asia is running by an Indian lady,Harinder kaur (Girls knows,how to play with emotions :)),So she is well aware with Indian mentality.She opened a company PAN Automotives Pte. Ltd few years back and then changed its names to Haren Technology Pte. Ltd. and then to SpeakAsia Online Pte Ltd.All have different bussiness model but they were not related to any survey business.You can find them @ http://www.hmtservices.com.
2. Again,where is the company’s head quarter,people says,its in Singapore (10 Ubi Crescent, #07-68, Ubi Techpark).Just google this address and you will find that there are two other companies registerd with the same address(Valves.Com Pte Ltd & SBS Consulting Pte. Ltd).
3. So,to whom you gives 11000 Rs? You are not paying it to Speak Asia…If you are,then they should have online transaction facility.Actually it goes in the name of the franchise (bank account) and who further pass that money to someone in Mumbai and all get to keep a certain % out of it.
4. Is this company regitered in India ? Is they have any office in India ? Till today ,answer of both questions is a big NO.
5. They claims that they are earning millions of dollor,then why they have hosted there surveys on SurveyMonkey,why they dont have inhouse survey system ?
6. And the funny thing,they say that they are established in Singapore/Malasiya/Indonesia.but when I use Alexa,the all internet traffic coming from Bangladesh and India 🙂 click here to know http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/speakasiaonline.com#
So how these fraud companies works,let take example of SpeakAsia
For the first three month it is actually just paying out your own money back. So for the company there is always a buffer time of 3 months for the people to even realize how they have been gamed / duped. To keep the ship sailing they need to double their signups every quarter which is luckily happening for them So that they can pay the earlier and current customers from that money and keep some money for advertisement to maintain their signup targets.
Okay till here things going well,but what happen when company fall short of their target for adding more people ? Its simple,
1. They will cut the rates of Surveys.
2. They will reduce frequency of Surveys.
3. they can increase 11000 to 15000.
You people cant force them to retain the number and the rate of surveys because you paid 11000 bucks for Magazine not for surveys.
What will happen when company close there business ?
1. Company is registerd in Singapore,So book the ticket and fly and file the case in Singapore Court.
2. You paid 11000 for E-Zine,which you will get every month,You get 1000 bucks for survey.So company is safe.
3. Lets assume something goes wrong and the Indian authorities goes after this whole scheme and in that case the company can easily bail themselves out saying they have not recieved any money from them cause none of the payments is made in their name rather its in the name of the Franchisee who are paid a certain % to forward that to the main distributor and who further pass it to someone else. So the person you can only catch is the person to whom you made the payment. But sadly the problem is that even that person is the victim of this whole scheme.
4. Yes one do receive a online reciept for the money that one pays from Speak Asia and here is the screenshot. Earlier it was given from “Online Surveys Today” which I doubt that any such company even exists though the address was same as SpeakAsia Online Pte. Ltd. and later it is changed to Haren Ventures Pte. Ltd. but they changed the address to a new address.
Hehehe…Its a fraud ? I dont know exactly …If it is then how it is running? …Ye INDIA hai janab yaha sab chalta hai (This is India,anything is possible here)….
Well,I am an investor and I know the basic concept…when 95% loose ,5% makes money ….and this later stage of speakAsia I cant be in 5% and I dont want to be in 95%.