Stricter steps can curb pyramid schemes

Three graduates died within a month after being hounded by pyramid scheme gangs, say recent media reports. Why have pyramid schemes become a threat to personal safety?

Products exchange hands through direct selling or multi-level marketing. Direct selling means producers selling directly to consumers. In multi-level marketing, distributors buy the goods from producers and sell them to consumers. Both are accepted modes of sales.

Problems arise when distributors pay for concepts, instead of products, and then make profits by selling those "concepts" to lower-level distributors. This mode is nothing but a scam.