Jacky Ho's Father Died Believing In A Miracle

Jacky Ho is a 40 year old sales executive from Seremban. The Malay Mail recent report said that Jacky bought supplements from a direct selling company believing the supplements could cure his 70 year-old father who was diagnosed with a clogged artery.

Despite being told by doctors from University Kebangsaan Malaysia that his father had to undergo an immediate operation to avoid a heart attack, he decided to seek alternative treatment which resulted in his father death.

He sought the advise from a direct selling agent who convinced him that the supplements he was selling could heal his father. Jacky then decided to join the direct selling team and spent RM2,000 to purchase the supplements. He lost his money and lost his dad.

Malaysians are a gullible lot and are easily deceived by "snake oil salesmen" claiming to sell miracles in a bottle. Unscrupulous direct selling companies usually base their fantastic product claims on dubious scientific research findings and anecdotal evidence.

I once told a direct selling agent that if his supplements are so effective, they wouldn't need to sell it through the direct selling method because big pharmaceutical companies would buy the patents to the products and sell it directly to pharmacies and hospitals.

For instance, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Incorporated doesn't have to sell Viagra through direct selling, do they ? They sell directly to hospitals and pharmacies. Simply because their product works.

Beware of con men not only in the direct selling industries but also in the "get-rich-quick" money making / start own business industries. You can normally find these "experts" selling money making courses through "free seminars" advertised in the local newspapers.

I knew a friend who went for a "free seminar" at a hotel where the speaker claimed that he could teach you to make millions with just your ideas. The speaker of dubious character and accreditation gave himself away when he forbid any attendees from asking questions during the free seminar (presumably to prevent anyone from exposing him as a fraud).

He gave the excuse that asking questions during the seminar would interrupt the concentration of the other attendees. Instead, he said, if anyone had any queries they should ask him privately after the seminar. If he had nothing to hide, why must any queries be asked in private ?

Anyway, if he knows how to make millions just by ideas, then he should be doing it himself, right ? Why bother teaching others at a seminar for just a few thousand ringgit ? Bill Gates and Warren Buffet don't make money by giving seminars, do they ?

Read also this interesting article by Australia's ABC .

There's another article in Yahoo about get-rich-quick seminars - read here.

Well, what do you think ? Please post your comments.