My experience with QNET

In 2015, when I was working in Chennai, one of my close friends introduced me to this. He is well known with my mom and dad as well. He has lunch in my home and I had lunch in their home multiple times. These are the sequence of events that happened.

1. One day he randomly told me that he is doing a business in addition to his current job. I heard it and said okay. I didn’t ask for any more details or he told me any.
2. About a week or two later, he called and told me that there is a business opportunity and he suggested my name to their business partners.
3. I bought that as he is a close friend to me and we have known each other for almost 9 years by then.
4. I had self doubt in myself(which saved me) whether I will be able to take another responsibility or not.
5. I asked him what the business is about and what is the name of the business.
6. Surprisingly he refused to answer these basic questions saying that it's a business secret. Instead, he suggested that I meet his senior business partner.
7. I told him that I am busy with work on all week days. He then told me that they generally meet on weekends or during late evenings.
8. I agreed to this and one evening agreed to meet him. The place he told me about is not an office but a coffee shop.
9. The reason he gave is, they don’t spend money on expensive real estate unnecessarily. 
1. Stupid me bought this argument.
10. I reached there around 8:00 PM. There was a big crowd of people by then.
11. He then introduced me to a few people and then told me about a guy I am about to meet. The introduction he gave me about this so-called genius is mind boggling. 
12. This genius arrived approximately 30 minutes after I reached there. He is nothing like what my friend told me. He is with sweat clothes coming right from the office. (No offense meant on this)
13. Ignoring how he is, I started listening to him. He said what they are doing is legal and they even file IT returns on the income. 
14. He suggested that I read books by Robert Kiyasaki. (Rich Dad Poor Dad)
15. Finally they asked me if I wanted to join. Initial amount they asked me to put is INR 200,000.
16. I told them that due to home construction, I don't have that kind of money currently. Then, they suggested to me that we need to take a personal loan for this. Thinking back, the reason they gave me is very dangerous while sounding genuine. 
1. His exact words are "We should never put our own money in the business even if we have. We should only put the money by taking out a loan."
2. Taking out a loan is fine, but why personal loan? We should really take business loan. But, the stupid me didn’t ask this question.
17. When I still didn’t agree citing that I have a home loan already, they asked me to start with just INR 75,000.
18. The reduction in amount is my first major suspicion. Such a big offer to someone who never did any business sounded ridiculous to me.
19. One more thing to note. So far, there is no mention of the kind of business they do or even the name of the company.
20. On our way back, he kept telling me about what a great opportunity this is. He told me that all the people there liked me. 
21. Given that, there is no interview. How come they like me? I gave 5 rounds of interview to land at the job I am doing at that time. I expected more scrutiny if I have to be a business partner.
22. The next day, he called me asking me for my consent. Still tight lipped on the company name. To hurry me, he mentioned that there is another guy interested to join this immediately if I drop. This is to create anxiety in me.
23. Ideally, anyone will say a strong NO by now. But, I am not one of them. I am filled with hesitation to say NO. The reasons are-
1. Afraid to say NO to a friend.
2. The FOMO(fear of missing out) factor.
24. He continued to call me for the next 4 days. During later conversations, he slipped the company name as QNET. 
25. One more thing he told me is, he is already making money in the new business and is in profit.
1. This has made me trust the business(blindly).
26. One good thing I did then is, I did some online research on QNET. This helped me understand that this is nothing but a multi level marketing, where you will join it and then get a few people to join under you and so on. But, these people advertise this as an online business.
27. This is what generally happens, once you pay the money. That will mostly go for an overpriced item. It will be like you bought it with your money legitimately. 
28. As it is legitimate, there is no scam. The profits on that overpriced item will go to the person under whom you have joined and the chain above.
29. Now, it is your responsibility to trick people to join under you. Else, you will not get the amount you have invested.
30. I conveyed this to him assuming that he is also a victim. But, he knows the process. Yet, he is adamant to agree that this is a scam. But, I told him clearly that I am not joining.

For the next few weeks, I keep seeing awesome facebook posts from this guy where he is in Dubai for a business meeting. Bought Harley Davidson bike and many more. Finally, one fine day he deleted his facebook profile altogether.

I am not writing this to advertise how I saved myself. But, for anyone who reads this to understand what they might really encounter.