Hello everyone, how are y'all today? I was reading Ate Jane's article earlier today where she was talking about being scammed some years back by a company that deals in pharmaceutical products (you can check it out here) and it reminded me of my experience in a similar company in my country.
I know most Nigerians would have guessed which company I want to mention because I have also seen some people here talk about their experiences in the hands of this same company. The name of the company is Golden Neo-Life Diamite International, A.K.A GNLD or Neolife.
They have been in existence for a very long time now and some people say they are a legitimate company, but I just don't like the way they try to recruit people, and most of their members are very desperate. Almost everyone in my family has fallen prey to some of their schemes, but luckily we didn't lose any money.
My first experience with them was back in 2015 when I just finished my training at a computer school, so my friends and I were jobless and just roaming the streets at that point. Then one day, we came across one of our previous high school teachers and he told us that there's a place that is looking for workers and we should come the next day with our passport photographs.
We asked him about the salary and he gave us a certain figure which was very good, so we decided to visit the address he gave us the next day, which was a bit far from where we stayed. We were all excited that we are finally going to have something to do to earn some cool cash, so the next day we were eager to go to the "company".
The D-Day arrived and we left for the destination given to us. We got there around 2pm and noticed it was an eatery, and beside it was a canopy with people sitting under it. We were confused and wondering if the job was in the eatery, so we called our ex-teacher and he told us to approach the canopy.
We went there and he offered us a seat and said we should stay for the meeting. We got to find out that the meeting we were stuck in was hosted by GNLD and they said they sold pharmaceutical products. Some people came out and talked about how much they have earned since they registered with the company and we were very impressed by them.
The host then said that the main aim of the company was to sell pharmaceutical products and if we join them, we will help them to sell the products and we get a certain commission from each sale (doesn't sound so bad). Then he said that if we aren't cut out for selling their products, then the fastest way to make money from them is to bring in new people to register with the company.
He then explained it further and I discovered it is a matrix system, where you get pushed to a higher level as you keep bringing in new people and your downlines also bring in new people, so basically it's a pyramid scheme. I decided I was going to do this one, I will just bring all my friends and acquaintances the next day to come register.
But all of a sudden, the atmosphere changed when the host made mention of paying a registration fee which is about $60 back then! We were confused and one of my friends asked; "so we are paying you to help you market your products? That doesn't make any sense!" They replied that the payment is a gesture of goodwill on our part and it shows that we are committed to the company.
That was it, we decided we have heard enough and we got up to leave, but we noticed we have been surrounded by the older members who all sat down in strategic positions around us. They started pleading that we should just stay till the end of the meeting, but we told them we are not interested and it was already getting late (it was 6pm).
They were still pleading with us but they let us go when they noticed one of our friends is already turning red with anger 😂 but before we were allowed to leave, we were asked to drop our phone number with them and I gave them a wrong number, good luck to them trying to get a hold of me again.
My sister also fell into their trap one day and this time around they came under the guise that they want to use her for a photo shoot as a model and she will be paid for it. She went to the address given to her and found herself in one of the legendary GNLD meetings 😂
These days I still see them everywhere especially in market places trying to recruit people, but most people have become wiser now to their antics and can easily smell them from afar. Whenever someone I don't know stops me in public and start talking about some crazy offer, my first thought is always GNLD.
This reminds me of something that happened 2 weeks ago when I was returning to the university, I was in the market heading to the bus park when a girl got my attention and introduced herself, I told her my name and she said she likes my height and if I want to be a model because they need someone like me for a photo shoot the next day.
After hearing all that she said, I silently laughed and I told her directly; "I am not interested" and I walked off immediately. So what she meant was that she has been standing there in the market waiting patiently for me to walk by 😆 She should just go back home and work on another angle to lure innocent victims, this one is outdated.
Thanks for reading 💖💖💖
Saturday February 19, 2022
I have had a very similar experience with them too. Inside the hall, they always start with motivational quotes from great authors and business men so that they can continue to ginger you to be more interested. One of their anchor spread one kind lie that you could make sixty million naira working with them within six months. I just open mouth waa. And immediately I thought : this is what a scammer would say. After they had finished those their long talks, I was the first to find the door, then suddenly, two of their female employees close to the doorway blocked me and started preaching to me like zealous pastors for another ten minutes. Infact, up till now I still wonder how I manage to escape from that hall.