DISTURBING NEW LOW FOR MLM: TelexFree Affiliate Spams Sign-Up Offer In Comments Thread About Tragic Suicide Death Of Fellow Affiliate

Not even the tragic suicide of a TelexFree member in Brazil could stop promos for the purported “opportunity” — right below a story reporting on the woman’s death.

Citing a Brazilian media account, Oz at BehindMLM.com reported tonight that the TelexFree member who jumped from the fifth floor of a parking garage in the state of Paraiba last month has died. The PP Blog reported on Nov. 27 that the woman initially survived the plunge and was hospitalized in critical condition.

PBAgora.com.br, a news site in Paraiba, reported on Nov. 29 (Portuguese) that the 22-year-old woman died of her injuries. It also reported that there is a family dispute over the degree to which the woman’s participation in TelexFree had a role in the death.

There likely will be little rational dispute, however, about whether MLM just set a new low: Indeed, the Comments thread below the PBAgora story on the tragic death included a spam in Portuguese from a TelexFree affiliate interested in recruiting a downline. The spam ignored the woman’s death. The PP Blog used Google Translate to translate the Portuguese spam to English. Google Translate isn’t perfect, but it can give users a pretty solid idea of meanings.

Here is a snippet from the Portuguese-to-English translation (italics added):

$ $ $ $ Telexfree INTERNATIONAL – TORQUE DESIGN PERFECT $ $ $ $ $
Join this amazing project Telexfree Internaconal group ! !

The avatar of the poster was the Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom. Another part of the pitch, according to the Google translation, read as such: “We have gained a lot from the network.” The pitch included directions to contact the spammer at a Gmail address.

On Sept. 9, the PP Blog reported that TelexFree promoters were encouraging prospects in Brazil to fabricate an address in England to register for the “program.”

TelexFree is under investigation in Brazil, with new registrations banned in the country while a pyramid-scheme probe continues. Promotions in other countries have continued, even in the aftermath of reported death threats against a judge and prosecutor in Brazil — and now a reported suicide.

Another comment in the thread sought to blame a Brazilian judge for the woman’s suicide.

Also see June 20, 2012, PP Blog story on weird spam associated with the Zeek Rewards MLM “program.” Less than two months later — on Aug. 17, 2012, the SEC filed an emergency complaint in federal court that alleged Zeek was a $600 million Ponzi- and pyramid scheme.