I posted this on another thread about the Landmark forum but it was a little buried and I REALLY would prefer not to go to this thing tonight.

I don't know the name of this group we're going to tonight but it sounds fishy.

This is the premise: She called me up yesterday and asked me to be one of 5 "mentors" to help her achieve her goals. Immediately I have alarm bells going off but she really wants my wife and I to help her out so I agree to it. Basically they want the mentors to attend this two hour session to learn how to properly mentor. I'm thinking "We need two hours for this???" And supposedly we are then going to call her once a week and follow up with her to make sure she's doing whatever she's been told to do. (Wow, now that I write it down it sounds even creepier!)

She didn't say anything about someone calling me but, frankly, I know this game, and that's exactly what they plan to do. My answer will be no of course but now curiosity is creeping in and I think I'll have a good time making a complete ass of the deceptive bastard who is running the thing. Hell, maybe I know him. (And why do I just assume it's a Him?)

Anyone hear about anything like this? I am worried my SIL is getting scammed.

Always give them a fake name and address. When I was TBM, I had a handy alias ready at all times--especially in Mormon singles groups, and MLM and help-groups. Tell them that you are living in your parents' basement, and that your brothers and cousins are all cops.

a complete story about yourself you tell to strangers in bars, or mlm recruitment meetings.

my wife, for example, is a lawyer who specializes in representing transgendered professional athletes.

in my bar id, I am a nice, caring person who gives a shit about you.

They use the personal progress seminar as the chum in the water. Next thing you know you are paying to use their machine to clear thetans out of your body.

They invent an invisible infestation, then sell you the cure. Where have we heard of this con before?

And you thought our disembodied spirit-demons were intrusive.

Anagrammy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2011 10:41AM by anagrammy.

Isn't LANDMARK associated with Scientology ?

Their methods are as hard sell as Mormonism, possibly worse.

Your wife was pressured, perhaps you need to step in and decline. If you give them an inch they will be hounding you forever.

Avoid the whole issue. My scam-senses are screaming too. Besides, I wouldn't want people to be that up in my business. If anyone told me what to do and expected me to call them every day and report, I'd be pretty irritable.

Is your wife, by any chance, depressed? Why would this even appeal to her?

At a bare minimum, demand all the information upfront so your handy internet can provide you with knowledge (which you can hopefully use to talk your wife out of the evening and inocculate her against further pressure tactics).

RULE 1

If you have to shell out ANY money to them before you get any back --**IT IS AN MLM SCAM**

JB

This is nuts.

Anyone who can be talked into going to an unknown seminar for 2 hours on a weeknight has "chump" written all over them.
That's how they find their new recruits.

And your SIL needs FIVE mentors to call her once a week thereafter? Come on.

Just tell her you won't participate in the scam. No further explanations are necessary.

Forty two years of Mormonism has inoculated me against any and all such scams. I am only going to help my SIL discover the scam for herself by asking all the right questions. I only posted this to see if this group sounded familiar to anyone here. Why spend the time to investigate all the crap if someone has already done so for me?

It's actually tomorrow night. I'll return and report.

It's a cult-like organization.

Pray that you will lose your keys

Oh crap, it sounds like Scientology. You think the LDS church is bad? Those people are fucking nuts. They won't admit to any sort of connection to that church at first, but it will consist of a ton of self-improvement courses. Then eventually they pull you in.

Keep a close eye on your wife. If she struggles with depression or anxiety then they will sniff her out and go for the kill.

Or it is an MLM. Either way, go with your wife to make sure he doesn't get suckered.

No, because I misread and thought his wife was the one interested. Now re-reading it I see that it is only the SIL.

I would have said the same thing if it were a male spouse interested in such an obvious scam.

years with the fraud and thinking it all through have made this kind of exercise like shooting fish in a barrel for us. We just need to have some first hand observations so we can better help our SIL.

The names may change but the cult-plot never does. Guilt, fear, manipulation, shame. Fleece the gullible.

Repeat.

She pitched it to us as a way to help her in achieving her goals and swore it had nothing to do with selling us something.

Well, we went, it wasn't as bad as we thought. There wasn't any selling and they just wanted us there to learn the way they wanted us to encourage and help my SIL. OK. Fine. So I'll give her a call once a week (like they asked us to) to encourage her to achieve her goals but we won't be going back to any meetings and I wish my SIL well with it. I hope it helps her out.

Thanks for the follow-up. I was wondering. :-)

Landmark
http://www.ripoffreport.com/cult-organizations/landmark-forum/landmark-forum-landmark-educa-85439.htm

I like ripoff report..people tell it like it is.

It's NOT Landmark, Impact, or Forum, I already talked to Sis about that. She has heard horror stories about some of those and wouldn't get involved.

My husband and I are going to go as observers and I will try to support my Sister in reaching her goals. However, I won't be sucked in to the group. I intend to keep a close eye on it. I've been to one meeting and it seemed fine to me. They offered a workshop at a discount, but didn't pressure anyone to sign up, and nobody has contacted me.

I think the whole situation might be an opportunity for us to discuss characteristics of cults and brainwashing.

I had a close friend (SS pres) who attended 'the Forum'...

a) I think all Mormons think in Group terms; not necessarily what we ordinarily refer to as Community either.
b) friend said he liked it.

go figure.