Karatbars International review: Karatbars is a Ponzi scheme! 1

Karatbars is a ponzi
scheme!

Karatbars is being watched & investigated by
the The Autorité Des marchés financiers (AMF) > http://www.lautorite.qc.ca/en/press-releases-2014-conso.html_2014_alert-karatbars.html

Here is a recent negative press release on Karatbars but on the
French TV station TVA here in Quebec> http://tva.canoe.ca/video/3377116638001

And this negative piece of journalism in the French newspaper
Le Journal De Montreal > http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2014/03/21/karatbars-promet-la-liberte-financiere-en-12-semaines

Another thing that dawned on me as a possibility is perhaps
the reason Karatbars sells their gold mounted & encased on a plastic credit
card is perhaps they are under delivering the true weight of the gold being sold
or that they claim. For example they can say that there is a gram of gold
encased on that card but how do we really know for sure? What if the gold is
only half a gram or 3 quarters of a gram. Gold is evaluated by it's purity &
also by it's weight. While I don't doubt the purity of the gold, I am beginning
to doubt the weight of the gold? If you think about it it is an easy way for
Karatbars to camouflage the true weight of the gold by mounting it on those
plastic cards & therefore ripping people off even more than they already
are.

I wonder if anyone has ever had Karatbars gold evaluated &
weighed by a certified gold specialist. Unfortunately or fortunately I sold my
package along with that supposed I gram of gold mounted on the plastic card. I
certainly would have gone to a certified gold specialist to have the gold
officially evaluated if I still had the card in my
possesion.

The #1 commodity in the world today is "supplemental income".
Many people today are looking for a way to increase their income, improve their
financial situation, create more time freedom, & better their lifestyle. If
you could create residual income while you sleep, enjoy an incredible lifestyle
you have only imagined, have access to some of the best training tools for FREE
to help you achieve the lifestyle you imagined, would you be willing to carve
out a little time out of each day to create that life? Find a legitimate network
marketing company with a unique legitimate product & with hard work &
perseverance you might be able to achieve that better lifestyle. Key word is
"might" there are no guarantees. The truth is many network marketing/MLM
companies prey on the vulnerable, prey on the gullible, prey on the fact that
most people are craving for a way to produce supplemental income & they
claim they have a way for you to create that supplemental
income.
The real hard facts & truth are that very few people ever
really make it big in network marketing. Almost all network marketing/MLM
companies will only give you the best case scenarios but very rarely will they
give you the cold reality! Very often these companies will super hype the
potential income you can make. They will paint a rosy picture that it is easy or
not that hard & you only have to recruit 2 or 3 people & make sure that
those 2 or 3 people also duplicate this method & recruit 2 or 3 people
each.. In theory it all sounds doable & reasonable but believe me it very
rarely happens the way it was attended to work. At best perhaps 10% of network
marketers/MLMers earn a decent living, the rest struggle to even recoup their
initial investment in the company. Of course there is an enormous investment of
time required as you must spend an inordinate amount of time & energy trying
to persuade & recruit others into your organization.
I joined Karatbars International on Nov.14, 2013 & resigned
my position just recently on April 3, 2014. Karatbars masqueraded it self as an
e-commerce company claiming that they are not a MLM because there was no
sponsorship requirements & no auto ship or minimum requirement to buy their
product which is a supposedly 1 gram of pure currency grade gold mounted on a
plastic card like a credit card. The Gold sold this way in my opinion loses
value & is difficult to measure & weigh because it is mounted on a
plastic card. I know for a fact that any certified gold dealer would not
exchange the full supposed value of a gram of currency grade gold coming from
Karatbars for paper money if you wanted to sell Karatbars gold to them as
opposed to pure currency gold in another format that is not mounted or encased
in plastic. For example gold that is sold by Canada Mapleleaf Gold would most
certainly fetch more dollars for the equivalent weight or denomination. Here are
the true facts> Karatbars sells 1 gram of currency grade gold for 47.93 Euros
or $72.11CAD & the most recent spot gold price for 1 gram of gold as of
April 4th, 2014 is $45.99/GR in Canadian Dollars an inflated markup of almost
37%. It's also funny but not really funny that karatbars will buy back the gold
they sell to their affiliates at a deeply discounted rate of 33% less than what
an affiliate paid for their gold from Karatbars. Buyback at 32.41 Euros or
$48.77 CAD as I said a discount of $23.34 CAD or 33%. Why such a deep discount?
Because karatbars is buying the gold back at the realistic spot gold price &
not the heavily inflated price they sell it at.
Karatbars employs such tactics that their gold is the new
international money! What ###! They also employ tactics that everyone
should exchange their declining in value paper dollars for their over inflated
priced gold that karatbars sells. I agree that most people should be holding
approximately 5%> 15% of their total holdings in pure physical gold but don't
buy your gold from the karatbars crooks! Buy your gold from a reputable reliable
gold refinery such as Canada Gold Mapleleaf gold coins. They also employ such
tactics of how the price of gold has risen over the years but they never mention
that the price of gold took a huge dip in 2013 falling 28% in
value!
Furthermore Karatbars is very much like a network marketing
company because just like other network marketing companies you must recruit
others & you must buy their Gold mounted on those plastic cards at an over
inflated cost if you are to earn any money. In this regard Karatbars is similar
to other network marketing companies in that they over inflate the price of
their product "Gold" so that they can make a profit & also pay out
commissions to their affiliates/distributors. Karatbars Gold is very much a
pyramid scheme because it is clearly defined that if not at least 70% of the
company's product that being their currency grade gold is not sold to outsiders
to those not directly involved with the company, then it is defined as a pyramid
scheme. Furthermore Karatbars always pitches their ridiculous 12 week income
projections whereby if all you did was recruit 2 people & made sure that
those 2 people recruited 2 people & then bought 1 gram of gold per week than
by the 12th week you could & I emphasize COULD be earning anywhere from
$4, 500 to $34, 500 per week depending on the distributor package you bought when
you joined karatbars. As the saying goes "the ### hit the fan" when Karatbars
released their 2013 financial statements. I calculated the total commissions
paid out by Karatbars in 2013. It was $4, 821, 416. Euros or $7, 405, 926. Canadian
Dollars . If you divide this amount among all 110, 000 Karatbars affiliates
worldwide you get an average of $67.32 Canadian Dollars average annual income by
each affiliate. These are not very impressive numbers, in fact very depressing
numbers. Numbers don't lie! The only liars are the people running the show at
Karatbars..
I also have my strong doubts that if all 110, 000 worldwide
affiliates demanded all at once that their gold be delivered to them, that
Karatabars would be able to deliver. Karatbars claims that they use prosegur a
security storage company in Europe which to store each affiliate's gold for
free. It's a little odd that if an affiliate of karatbars wants their gold
delivered to them that Karatbars will take 6 to 8 weeks to deliver their gold
plus of course the affiliate will incur fed ex shipping charges but when a brand
new affiliate joins the company & buys one of their distributor packages
(Bronze, Silver, Gold or VIP), that they deliver within 2 weeks without any
delivery charge from Fed-ex. I strongly suspect that Karatbars are fraudulently
claiming that the affiliate's gold is being stored by Prosegur. I suspect that
the reason Karatbars takes 6 to 8 weeks to deliver the gold that rightfully
belongs to their affiliates is because more than likely when an affiliate
requests to have their gold delivered then Karatbars goes ahead & purchases
the gold & then mounts it on those stupid cards. God knows what Karatbars is
doing with all the money they collect to buy gold for their affiliates but I
strongly doubt that they immediately buy the gold that an affiliate thinks he is
buying & being stored upon his behalf by Karatbars. We have never seen any
concrete proof or evidence of that? It is my gut feeling that fraud is being
committed!
Connection to multi-level marketing:
The network marketing or multi-level marketing (MLM) business has
become associated with pyramid schemes. According to the U.S. Federal Trade
Commission, many MLM schemes "simply use the product to hide their pyramid
structure.". While some people call MLMs in general "pyramid selling, " others
use the term to denote an illegal pyramid scheme masquerading as an
MLM.
The Federal Trade Commission warns, "It’s best not to get
involved in plans where the money you make is based primarily on the number of
distributors you recruit and your sales to them, rather than on your sales to
people outside the plan who intend to use the products." It states that research
is your best tool and gives eight steps to follow:
Find—and study—the company’s track record. Learn about the
product. Ask questions. Understand any restrictions. Talk to other distributors.
Beware of shills. Consider using a friend or adviser as a neutral sounding
board, or for a gut check. Take your time. Think about whether this plan suits
your talents and goals.
Some authorities contend that MLMs in general are nothing more
than legalized pyramid schemes
What Is the Competition Act?
The Competition Act is a federal law governing most business
conduct in Canada. It contains both criminal and civil provisions aimed at
preventing anti-competitive practices in the marketplace.
Multi-level Marketing and Pyramid Selling Multi-level Marketing
Plans and Schemes of Pyramid Selling
The Competition Act explains the differences between multi-level
marketing plans and schemes of pyramid selling, and sets out the
responsibilities for operators and participants in these types of plans.
Multi-level marketing, when it operates within the limits set by the Competition
Act, is a legal business activity, while a scheme of pyramid selling is illegal
as defined by the law. What Is Multi-level Marketing?
Multi-level marketing is a plan for the distribution of products
whereby participants earn money by supplying products to other participants in
the same plan. They, in turn, make their money by supplying the same products to
other participants. What Should I Look Out For?
Although multi-level marketing plans, as defined in the
Competition Act, are a legal business activity, there are certain things you
should be aware of before joining such a plan.
It is illegal for
operators or participants in a multi-level marketing plan to make
representations relating to compensation or earnings under the plan unless they
include the amount of compensation actually or likely to be received by a
typical participant of the plan. Such representations can mislead potential
recruits to believe that it will be easy to make large amounts of
money.
As well, operators of,
and participants in, a multi-level marketing plan should ensure that any
representations made about the plan are — or include information that is — fair,
reasonable and timely as the plan relates to:
the different levels of
earnings or compensation received by participants in the plan; the amount of
money earned by a typical participant; and the time and effort required to reach
specific levels of income.
What Is a Scheme of Pyramid Selling?
A scheme of pyramid selling is a multi-level marketing plan that
incorporates any one of a number of specified marketing practices that make it a
criminal offence under the Competition Act.
It is illegal if:
participants pay money for the right to receive compensation for
recruiting new participants; a participant is required to buy a specific
quantity of products, other than at cost price for the purpose of advertising,
before the participant is allowed to join the plan or advance within the plan;
participants are knowingly sold commercially unreasonable quantities of the
product or products (this practice is called inventory loading); or participants
are not allowed to return products on reasonable commercial
terms.
What Are the Possible Penalties?
People who contravene the multi-level marketing or scheme of
pyramid selling provisions of the Competition Act can be convicted and sentenced
to a fine at the discretion of the court or a prison term of up to five years,
or both. How Do I File a Complaint?
If you believe that someone has in some way contravened any of
the legislation enforced and administered by the Bureau and you want to
complain, you can telephone, fax, e-mail or write the Bureau at the numbers
listed at the end of this publication.
The Bureau conducts its investigations in private and keeps
confidential the identity of the source and the information provided. However,
if someone has important evidence about a contravention of any of the acts the
Bureau administers, that person may be asked to testify in
court.
What makes me the angriest is the enormous amount of time I
invested in learning all about karatbars & how their complicated
compensation plan works! What compensation? Plus the enormous amount of time
& energy I spent in trying to recruit others into this scheme. Thank
goodness no one bought the bait! When I got involved I truly believed in
Karatbars & their income projections. What a FARCE! I stuck my name, my
reputation & my credibility out for these fraudulent people! To all those
I tried to recruit into this program I truly apologize! I hope that they can
forgive me?
Pyramid scheme victims
win $6.5M in B.C. Lawsuit > http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pyramid-scheme-victims-win-6-5m-in-b-c-lawsuit-1.2524843

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