The Syndicate is a business group that uses digital marketing to sell get rich quick, work from home and self help products. Technology journalist Joshua Topolsky has described the Syndicate as "these guys call themselves Internet marketers, but what they're really doing is it's a pyramid scheme, essentially".
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Activities
Members of the Syndicate use online advertising, email marketing, affiliate marketing and multi-level marketing to sell "info products", such as self-published books and videos that purport to teach customers how to get rich through online business. They also do lead generation for pressure-sales telemarketing companies called "boiler rooms". The Syndicate's members use the group as a way of coordinating product launches and release dates, and of enhancing perceived credibility through social proof. According to Syndicate member Frank Kern, "Have you ever noticed that all the people in the Internet Marketing world are promoting each other? I mean, we're not psychic. It's not like, 'Oh, I suddenly realize he's having a launch today, I have to nail it'. We all work together, all the top people work together."
Critic Jason Jones, who blogs as The Salty Droid, has accused the Syndicate of being a cartel that harms customers through price fixing and unfair competition. Syndicate member Frank Kern denies this, and claims that the Syndicate's purpose is to "help the customer have a great experience".
Jeff Johnson Internet Marketing Video
Members
Andy Jenkins
Andy Jenkins is an Internet marketer, filmmaker, and the founder of The Syndicate.
Eben Pagan
Eben Pagan is a former real estate agent and pick-up artist under the pseudonym "David DeAngelo", who has since become a "full scale member" of The Syndicate. He sells relationship counseling products with his wife Annie Lalla.
Frank Kern
Irwin Frank Kern is an Internet and video marketer, who has released videos describing the operation of The Syndicate. In 2003, Kern was charged by the Federal Trade Commission with engaging in deceptive business practices and operating a pyramid scheme. He settled the case, and paid a fine of $247,000 to compensate victims. The Verge has claimed that Kern does lead generation for Jeremy Johnson, a marketer who was charged by US federal prosecutors with operating an alleged fraud ring.
Jeff Walker
Jeff Walker is an Internet marketer and member of The Syndicate. He created the "Internet Marketing launch process" used by Syndicate members.
Mike Filsaime
Mike Filsaime is a Syndicate member and telemarketer. He sells packages of information about how to make money on the internet, and does Internet lead generation for boiler rooms and call centers that sell "coaching programs" that claim to help people learn Filsaime's methods; Filsaime receives a percentage of the money paid to the coaches. One of these boiler rooms, Prosper Inc., was a major donor to Utah politician Mark Shurtleff and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Relationships
Motivational speaker and self-help author Tony Robbins has promoted the Syndicate and its members Frank Kern, Eben Pagan, and Jeff Walker.
American author and public speaker Michael Ellsberg has written about the lives of, and promoted the products of, Syndicate members Frank Kern and Eben Pagan in his book "The Education of Millionaires".
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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