Exclusive: Sabrina wanted to make some extra cash. Chloe* followed other local mums. Ellen* was looking for love.

All three took part in in multi-level marketing (MLM) businesses that they say left them in financial or emotional ruin.

Direct Selling Australia (DSA) reports that there are approximately 300,000 MLM consultants in Australia, with around 80 percent being women. While MLMs are legal in the country, studies indicate that most consultants end up losing money.

The industry has also been plagued with allegations of “toxic” culture and unethical business practices for years.

Yet more than 90,000 Aussies joined MLMs in 2023 alone, many just trying to make ends meet.

“They prey on vulnerable people, they offer hope in this financial crisis,” Ellen told 9news.com.au.

What is multi-level marketing?

MLM businesses, also known as direct selling or network marketing, work by recruiting individual salespeople or “consultants”.

But they don’t receive a salary or wages.

Instead, they make money by selling MLM products, which they must purchase themselves from the business then sell at a markup or through recruitment.

Consultants have the opportunity to earn significant bonuses by recruiting additional consultants under their supervision, known as their “downline,” allowing them to gain a percentage of the recruits’ sales.

This business model, made famous by companies like Avon and Tupperware, is often likened to illegal pyramid schemes. However, MLMs operate legally under Australian Consumer Law because they deal in tangible goods.

Consultants predominantly sell and recruit through their personal networks, targeting friends, family and social media connections to buy or join.

And most MLMs require consultants to make regular purchases and meet sales targets just to stay in the business.

So why would someone ever join?

Sabrina was working as a travel agent in Queensland when an old friend suggested she join skincare MLM NuCerity.

She promised it would help Sabrina achieve financial freedom and be her own boss.

“I was doing a lot of overtime and she started telling me how it would be a great way to eventually get some time freedom,” Sabrina told 9news.com.au.

“I signed up straight away.”

She believed her friend had her best interests in mind and ignored some red flags, like when other consultants allegedly told her not to Google the business.

”I trusted her, so I didn’t really question anything,” Sabrina said.

Had she Googled NuCerity, Sabrina might have found warnings not to join the MLM that left her broke and emotionally “shattered”.

Sabrina was with NuCerity for four years but never made more than a few hundred dollars a month, even after quitting her job to focus on the MLM.

Any money she did make was spent on NuCerity products to stay in the business, so she had to rely on her then-partner to cover rent, bills and groceries.

NuCerity has since gone out of business. It was acquired by ARIIX, which has also gone out of business and in turn was acquired by NewAge. All three companies have not responded to a request for comment.

Single mum Ellen was convinced to join a health product MLM by a man she met on a dating app who swore it would be the “perfect side hustle” on top of her nursing job.

She hoped to make extra cash and was involved with a string of MLMs over the next few years but lost thousands.

“This has really f—– me over emotionally and financially,” she said tearfully.

Other former consultants told 9news.com.au they were recruited into MLMs by friends and relatives who promised they could earn easy money and work from home.

Most said they only believed the claims because of their relationship with the recruiter.

Chloe, from Perth, was sceptical when local mums started joining a beauty MLM but was eventually recruited by a relative.

Though she made $6000 in less than a year, she said the toxic and “cult-like” behaviour she witnessed in the MLM shocked her.

”Not only did I witness most mums losing money but the emotional and spiritual abuse was like nothing I’d seen before,” Chloe said.

She alleged other consultants bullied and harassed new recruits, manipulated them into paying for their own training courses and “shut down” anyone who challenged them.

When 9news.com.au reached out to the health MLM it said it took “allegations of bullying and harassment extremely seriously but strongly rejects any allegations that misrepresent our business model, culture, or the safety of our products.”

Sabrina alleged she was encouraged by NuCerity consultants to spend beyond her means to maintain the image of success even when she was scraping by.

She claimed that when she questioned these tactics, she was “gaslit” into believing she was the problem.

“It’s incredible how these groups can just brainwash you,” she said.

“My auntie even asked me, ‘Is this a cult?'”

It certainly felt like one to Ellen, who only stayed in the MLM industry for so long because she craved a sense of community.

Most MLMs encourage consultants to connect and form groups, offering a sense of connection to vulnerable and isolated individuals.

“I’m very isolated socially and I felt like I belonged,” Ellen said, but it soured quickly.

“They pretend to be your friend [but] they just close ranks and shut you out if you don’t do exactly what they say.”

‘The women who join are not dumb or naïve’

Former consultants alleged they were encouraged to target vulnerable people to boost sales and recruitment.

“We were encouraged to find a niche – burnt-out nurses, or menopausal women, or single mums – and infiltrate,” Ellen claimed.

“To join all these Facebook groups, then start offering [MLM products] on the sly.”

Sabrina and two other NuCerity consultants went a step further, starting their own Facebook group to lure other women into the MLM.

Advertised as a group for women to make friends, they used it to identify and connect with potential targets.

“We started organising weekend coffees under the pretence of wanting to connect and make friends … we were really sneaky, to be honest,” Sabrina said.

Then they tried to sell to or recruit the women, many of whom had limited social or support networks.

Chloe said that mothers in her local area were prime targets, as many were socially isolated and craved connection with other women.

“The women who join are not dumb or naïve,” she said.

“They are being recruited by their best friends, sisters, mums, aunties, work colleagues, people they know, like and trust … and it’s not simple to leave.”

When Sabrina finally left NuCerity it was because she couldn’t afford the $200 minimum monthly spend to stay in the business.

As soon as that happened, the consultants she’d called friends cut her off.

”Everything just started crumbling. I completely lost my self-esteem, I was very depressed,” she said.

It took months to recover financially and emotionally, and years to come clean to members of the Facebook group she had started (after the other consultants left).

Ellen struggled for years before finally escaping the MLM industry after saying she said she realised it was “all smoke and mirrors”.

“It’s a lot of manipulation, you’re most likely not going to succeed, you’re most likely going to lose a hell of a lot of friends and family,” she said.

She’s suffered mental health issues as a result and is still thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Sabrina, Chloe and Ellen now spend their free time educating other Australians about the financial and personal risks of MLMs in the hopes that other women don’t fall into the same trap.

“They are not providing an opportunity for mums and vulnerable people,” Chloe said.

“It’s a model where only one per cent earn a decent income and the rest lose money.”

Sabrina added that Australians who leave MLMs shouldn’t feel ashamed to share their stories, as they can help others find the motivation to get out of a bad situation.

She, Chloe and Ellen called for better financial education for vulnerable groups and greater government protections and support for people who lose money in MLMs.

*Names changed for privacy.