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alabnews · 3 years ago

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Kangen Water: The Scam That Pays

“Life doesn’t have to be such a challenge. We went from barely getting by to building the life of our dreams. You can do the same when you click the button below & register for this online workshop”

In the last few years, I’ve come upon a very dubious business model, which has lured thousands upon thousands of people, mostly from the Philippine community, and … enriched a very few…

In a nutshell, the promoted “online business” has only one purpose: to get as many distributors for the equally dubious Kangen Water (the brand name for alkaline water owned by Enagic Corporation), which operates as a MLM/pyramid.

In Canada, according to Section 55.1 of the Competition Act, A PYRAMID BUSINESS is: a multi-level marketing plan that includes either compensation for recruitment, required purchases as a condition of participation, inventory loading, or the lack of a buy-back guarantee on reasonable commercial terms, constitutes a prohibited “scheme of pyramid selling”. Examples.

Kangen Water/Enagic Canada (Address: 7460 Edmonds St Suite 101, Burnaby, BC V3N 1B2) clearly falls into the category of a pyramid (scheme in disguise). The big question is: WHY IS KANGEN WATER BEING ALLOWED TO OPERATE IN CANADA?

What is actually Kangen Water?

Kangen water® is the brand name for alkaline water owned by Enagic Corporation (read BBB complains about the company here). It is sold through multi-level marketing. The multi-level marketing system used by Enagic® to sell its water ionizer has also been called a scam because it doubles the price of the kangen water® machine.

The way you buy a Kangen Water machine is through a distributor. Even on their website, they ask for a “sponsor’s ID, name, phone number and email address” (distributor) in order to buy a machine.

Every time a Kangen machine is sold, eight sales people — the Kangen Water pyramid — get paid a commission. Their sales commission doubles the cost of the Kangen machine. Replacement filters for the Kangen® machines are expensive too, because they are also sold through the MLM scheme. The same eight people get paid every time you buy a replacement filter for your machine. It’s an outrageous scam!

Every time a Kangen machine is sold, eight sales people — the Kangen Water pyramid — get paid a commission. The top people (the so-called 6A2–8) in the pyramid get a $800,000 bonus, and a $80,000 Monthly For Life (which, you’re told, can be inherited by your next of kin when you die… not exactly true, but hey — fairy tales work when you’re selling the dream)!

Do you know any other business which does that?

We’re talking about SERIOUS MONEY that the scammers at the top will get monthly, guaranteed… if they continue to supply Enagic with distributors. Money, that they collect from sales of those OVERPRICED, NO-GOOD WATER MACHINES to other distributors.

No wonder they get so upset when they are exposed…

To recap: You can’t become a Kangen Water distributor without buying a Kangen Water machine. From another distributor.

The Kangen Water machines are hugely overpriced in order to pass down the line commissions from sales.

This creates the perfect opportunity for the perfect pyramid business scam.

I did my own “investigation” — I went to Enagic Canada main office in Burnaby, BC (7460 Edmonds St Suite 101, Burnaby, BC V3N 1B2) to inquire how I can become a distributor. I was told that the requirement is to purchase a Kangen machine from another distributor. “Just be sure it’s an honest one, there are a lot of dishonest people out there.”, said the guy behind the counter. “No sh*t!”, I thought to myself.

Purchasing a product is never a condition to become a distributor. In any other business, you apply to become a distributor, and only if/when you are approved, you can purchase an inventory.

Enagic sells their overpriced alkalized water machines that make “antioxidant-rich, health water for revitalized cells” (quote is from one of their sites), which will do miracles for your health, and “everyone will tell you so”… although the company “prohibits” their distributors from making such claims. Wink wink.

Some of the “claimed” health benefits from distributors (who mostly know nothing about any of this science) include:

Slows aging process

Boost immune system

More hydrating

Boost metabolism

Relieves heartburn

Cures cancer, diabetes, measles

and a ton of other stuff

In multi-level marketing scams, the parent company keeps a low profile and makes few claims that would attract the scrutiny of regulators such as the U.S. FTC. Instead, they recruit thousands of “independent agents” who are provided with sales literature containing false and misleading claims which they then transmit to their customers or put up on their own Web sites.

These agents, few of whom are well-enough educated to evaluate these claims or to realize that they violate the FTC rules on deceptive advertising, are as much victims as are their consumer customers.

“Snake oil” is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Which clearly Enagic is. Their water machines have no health benefits. They are overpriced only because of the MLM system for distribution of commissions.

So here is what we know about Kangen Water

It has NO PROVEN HEALTH benefits — and because Kangen water is sold through a network of distributors, the company can easily deny any wrongdoing when the individual distributors make such claims.

The Kangen Water cost thousands of dollars — between $2,980.00 and $5,980.00 for their most expensive model. The inflated price has one purpose — to provide large commissions to the few successful distributors.

Kangen Water is sold through multi-level marketing pyramid scheme. To become a Kangen distributor you HAVE TO PURCHASE A MACHINE FROM ANOTHER DISTRIBUTOR — a clear violation of Section 55.1 of the Competition Act.

The company has been sued for making spam calls to more than a million people in the US.

The Health Ministry in Malaysia has taken steps against the sale and promotion of Kangen water.

Finally, the very existence of Kangen Water/Enagic in Canada, allows for additional scams, like the one described below.

The Local Scam

Did you know that you can easily make a 6-figure passive income with virtually no experience, no skills and no education? You may also receive, guaranteed, a passive $5,000–$80,000 monthly “lifetime legacy bonus which can also be bequeathed or willed to your next of kin or your children.”

Sounds too good to be true?

This is, of course, if you join Mike Dreher and Darren Ewert online “business system”.

Or should I repeat: scam.

This information is from Enagic’s own Earnings Disclosure statement (as a distributor, you start at 1A — the more sales you have, the more additional distributors you get in the pyramid structure, the higher you climb and the bigger the commissions get. Only 0.24% hold a rank of 6A2–3.):

We don’t know what rank do Darren and Mike hold right now, but it’s above 6A2–4.

The scamming duo, Kangen Water/Enagic Canada main office and the majority of the “Dream team” are all located in Vancouver, British Columbia. But there are more victims of the scam, from many other parts of the world.

The Dream Team Or The Nightmare Mike And Darren’s Business is a first hand experience from someone who bought into the scam.

How does the scam work? Let me explain as easy as I can:

If you’re on Facebook (who isn’t?) you may come upon an ad or a post where you see ordinary people showing how much money they’re making from their “online business”. “Join our webinar, and you’ll learn how you can do it too!”, they say.

You go to their website, where you fill in your email and watch a pre recorded “webinar”. If you want to join, please pay $149 (US).

After you pay, you join the “Dream Team”, a hidden Facebook community group and you learn that the “business model” actually is to become a distributor of Enagic products.

Basically, this is an online scam designed to trick people into becoming Enagic distributors. Mike and Derren have been featured in an Enagic newsletter, where they talk about “building a community for distributors, which could help each other succeed and change lives.”

There are 3 different Enagic “investments” these platforms typically promote to people.

The first is buying a K8 for $4890, which is one of their most popular water ionizers.

The second is something people call the “Trifecta”, which consists of purchasing a K8, an Anespa mineral ion water spa system for $2890, and a 4 month supply of Ukon turmeric supplements for $760 which will autoship to you 3 times a year. With taxes, shipping, and handling all added in, this comes out to an initial “investment” of around $10,000.

The final and least common is the “Quad” or “Quadzilla” which is a trifecta + an extra K8, that most attach to a bathroom faucet or loan out to leads (people they want to sell to). This would of course be an investment of around $15,000.

AT THE MOMENT (20 Sept., 2021), Mike and Darren’s “Dream team” has more than 90,000 participants. A huge number of them are Filipinos expats, people who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and are trying to make ends meet.

I have to admit, it’s a clever scam as it double dips: first, you have to pay to join the system, which provides no real knowledge or training, but convinces you to invest and buy a Kangen Water machine, in order to become a distributor.

So, if numbers are right, if we have 90,000 individuals in the “Dream team”, all those people have paid US$149

90,000 X $149 = US$ 13,410,000

Not everyone has actually become a distributor at that point, but if we assume half are, that makes appr. 40,000 individuals who have purchased at least one Kangen Water machine at an average price of $4,000.

40,000 X $4,000 = $160,000,000

That’s a lot of profit for Enagic. And Darren and Mike.

Why is this a scam? Scam: a dishonest scheme; a fraud

FALSE ADVERTISING/DISHONESTY: You’re tricked into thinking you’re joining an online training/business system. In reality, you’re charged $149 US to be convinced you need to become an Enagic distributor and buy an overpriced water machine. SECRECY: By not identifying the business with a defined public brand, they go unnoticed and it is more difficult to find information about them on the Internet. When you join they ask you not to share information outside the group, neither the name of the private group nor the name of the company and basically nothing. The Facebook groups are secret by design. The less people know, the better. SOCIAL NETWORKS ABUSE: Facebook forbids “ads promoting business models offering quick compensation for little investment, including multilevel marketing opportunities.” PREDATORY SCHEME: The scam targets people with minimal computer literacy, experiencing hardships with promises for easy money. A typical “get-rich-quick” scheme. If you can’t afford tp pay the $4,000 for the machine, they encourage you to take a LOAN or a new CREDIT CARD. SELLING ‘THE LIFESTYLE’: The whole marketing pitch these two do is based on the ‘financial freedom dream’. Which, let’s be fair, only about one to two percent of all independent consultants working for MLM companies can achieve, by making the huge salaries that you hear about in the testimonials.

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