Well it happened, the FTC has finally intervened and put a stop to MOBE. This has been an event that many have speculated would occur for a long time, especially since not too long ago, a similar program, Digital Altitude suffered the same type of fate at the hands of the same organization.
- What happened?
- Is this the end of MOBE?
- Are there any alternatives to it?
- What should you do if you’re an existing member there, someone who invested/lost money there and/or someone who though about joining. Can a refund happen?
I want to answer all of these questions in this post, since I have a lot of experience with this company but I’d also love to hear from any former/existing members of this program, please tell me your experiences with MOBE below!
Now let me share my personal experiences with MOBE:
1) Many years ago when I first discovered it, I called it a scam because I considered many of it’s claims and promises to be over the top, and after joining that company for $49, I found out the sales funnel that was occurring was simple:
2) The price was originally $49, which took me through a series of steps in a program called MTTB (it’s 21 steps altogether). That series ended at step 6 with a big $2k up-sell and offer to join their affiliate program. And should I have decided to expand even further, I would have been offered up-sells that would amount to even bigger numbers.
3) This experience is one that many people who joined the company have gone through as well, except some actually went further, paid more and now some are profitable and many are not.
4) Now when I did it, I called it a scam because I didn’t like the fact that $49 just got me a series of feel good videos on how I could make six figures promoting the program, only to then be pitched that $2k offer (and then more).
5) As time passed, I became less radical about my assessment of MOBE and to the point where I didn’t call it a scam, yet never recommended it. But I would continue to encounter the program through other, third party sites, people and companies who would sneakily promote it to me and let me tell you, there were a lot of programs that hid that fact from me until I joined, only to find out, I was right back in MOBE all over again.
6) And each time, I’d have to call or email them to get my money back or cancel my trial. Now I didn’t blame this on the company, but on the third party promoters who decided to promote it that way and I called them the scammers, not MOBE.
7) Now you may be wondering why in the world a fool like myself would continue to buy make money programs and keep coming back to MOBE over and over, and the answer is that I was checking out different make money programs to test their legitimacy, as it’s part of what I do as an online businessman.
I have a few good programs I recommend to people (stick around, the recommendation is coming up, but here it’s called Wealthy Affiliate if you can’t wait) and part of my work is to help as many people as possible find the good ones and often times, that involves getting involved with the bad programs to find out if they’re really bad.
When it comes to MOBE, I’ve had many comments on my site regarding it, some good, some bad, but I can only give you an honest assessment of my own experiences with it and now that you have it, let me move onto the big event that took place in early June of 2018:
The FTC shut down of MOBE is permanent. Or is it?
An official press release was made (you can view it on the FTC page here) where the FTC announced it was halting the company’s actions which basically leaves it hanging at the mercy of the FTC, and after what happened to Digital Altitude, in which the FTC entirely shut it down and it’s not longer in business, I doubt the outcome of this event will be any different.
Now say what you will about MOBE, that it’s bad, that it’s good, but the FTC has determined that it was not doing the fairest things to say the least and decided to get involved. Here is a snippet from the FTC site regarding the shut down:
If you’re currently seeking to become a member, it’s just not possible. Every affiliate site which is currently promoting it is likely down too, or changing their tune to another promotion as we speak.
Are there any alternatives to MOBE?
The answer is yes and there were plenty of similar high ticket programs popping up during MOBE’s reign and after it.
However, many of these companies are basically functioning under the same exact formula MOBE ran, which got it shut down, so I tell people to be very careful about any program that claims to give you high ticket commissions and to beware of high ticket schemes.
I don’t recommend the high ticket programs out there, but the whole business of selling high ticket stuff can be ethical if you promote actual products that carry that value.
And again, the Wealthy Affiliate teaches this material (the ethical approach). I also run a page where I talk about how to ethically sell high ticket products.
All I’m saying here is: Don’t join a company like MOBE because there’s many out there.
Legitimate alternatives to MOBE and programs like it:
Learning to build an online business that makes good money as I said before does not require that you put in so much money to learn that process. Let me explain:
Since 2005, I embarked on the internet marketing journey. In 2007, I was fortunate enough to find a good program that nearly 12 years later as being a member off with over a million made in sales, still stands as my top recommendation for the best place to learn this stuff. And thankfully, it is NOT a high ticket program:
Now let me quickly explain some things regarding Wealthy Affiliate:
Now the difference in going with a program like this vs another high ticket one that’s bound to pop up on the internet is this:
By trying a program like this, you invest little to nothing and therefore open up more doors to run your business the way you want to. High ticket buyers typically head in the route of promoting the same high ticket program to people and if the program is bad, that means you’re funneling people into a bad business that is bound to screw them over.
I can choose to promote Wealthy Affiliate, I can make a site that sells health supplements, I can make a site that sells computer hardware, whatever, but the point is, I can decide on what makes me happy, make a site on that through the training Wealthy Affiliate provides and then reach a like minded audience and make them happy selling that same stuff to them.
I would honestly not get that opportunity had I been involved in high ticket programs.
Wealthy Affiliate actually fought against MOBE (and won).
It just so happens that the very same program I am recommending to you was engaged in a gigantic legal battle with MOBE for at least 2 years, when it was still around. You can read about the Wealthy Affiliate vs MOBE battle here, but the short story is that MOBE was attempting to silence affiliates from Wealthy Affiliate who were writing negative reviews, and in many cases (from my understanding) not based on the merit of the review, but simply because the review was negative (even if it was true).
This led to the domino effect that got the FTC involved eventually.
For naysayers who want to “make a lot, quickly” and need another high ticket system, here’s another warning:
I know there are going to be tons of internet marketing gurus and people who were part of MOBE, who weren’t, who have their own email lists and so on who are taking advantage of this recent event (I guess I am too).
But what many of these guys are going to be doing is recommending just another high ticket system (a big financial hole) in MOBE’s stead and I have to warn against joining any new programs like it as well as having this way of thinking because you’re going to go down a ladder which will lead you into the same hole MOBE did. And here are the main points of that (again):
1) Another high ticket system that works pretty much in the same manner the FTC has already penalized numerous companies for.
2) You are likely to lose even more money, rather than recover it.
3) You are basically starting an online business in a big financial hole.
And this leads me into the final part of this post:
What if you were already a member of MOBE, made money and lost it?
- What’s next?
- Can you get a refund?
From my understanding a receiver is being called upon to investigate the company and perhaps return the money back to investors. Now I don’t know this for sure, since at the time I’m writing this, there hasn’t yet been a receiver appointed yet, but normally, when big companies like this go down, this is the next step, so be sure to follow the FTC’s announcements for this and if and when the receiver is announced, make sure to sign up and fill out your info if you were a member of MOBE. This is the best way you can get your money back.
Update: Here is the official post by the FTC regarding refunds. As of now, members who LOST money on MOBE and want it back do not need to do anything. The FTC is looking through all the records and transactions to identify who lost what, so they can retrieve the funds.
While this is happening, I would encourage all existing MOBE members and/or those who though about joining to consider the alternative program I mentioned here:
While I know you may be skeptical especially after hearing this news, I can assure you of 2 things:
1) Wealthy Affiliate is NOT a high ticket program and is completely safe to join.
2) It’s a risk free thing since as I said, there’s a free membership, so you can check it out without worrying about anything.
The link I provided you will send you to a review I did where I explain the whole program to you guys and what to expect from it.
I spent a lot of money with MOBE and tried to get a refund as well and they kept telling me ok but never seen it. Who do I contact about getting some or all of my money back. If someone has phone numbers please send them to me.
Darla hi, I looked up this question before on the FTC site and it said that the accounts within MOBE (members’s accounts that is) are being investigated so you don’t need to do anything. I wish I could give you a better answer, but this is what I remember reading and there was no submission section for your claim.
I paid $497.00 YGPEVENTS (MOBE) for a training weekend for me and my son. We didn’t enroll because the amount of money asked for it was huge and no way I could afford it. I was wondering how I could get this money back.
Hi Zeli, this is a good question. There are 3 guesses I have here:
1) The event you paid for may not have been directly MOBE but possibly by a third party possibly affiliated with it, so for refunds, perhaps contacting that company directly is the best choice.
2) Perhaps Googling this event you went to in order to see how others are treating it ever since MOBE fell is another option to consider.
3) If this company is part of MOBE, and you paid into it, then your transaction should be in the list within the MOBE database and the receiver appointed should be able to see it and possibly help you get that back without you having to do anything.
Hi Vitaliy,
I was suckered into becoming A Gold Member status upgrade myself on the 6 out of the 21 steps I paid for (MTTB). I guess that in itself should of been my red flag on how they do business but ya. So now I’m out $5049.00 and haven’t made anything back. Thank goodness they shut em down before I really started dumping money into advertising. I would love to be part of any lawsuit or refund program available, please let me know.
Thanks,
Tom N.
Hi Tom, sadly there’s tons of stories like yours with regards to MOBE and MTTB. There are 2 things I can recommend, the first is regarding the lawsuit and possibly being able to get some money back:
1) Check out the receiver site I linked in the article above, it should take you to some resource to have you enter your info so you can get the money back. Receivers are hired specifically to untangle the web of who is owed what after these types of companies are shut down.
2) This may not be the best time for me to “pitch” a system, but I’ve always tried to tell people that a better, legit system was always Wealthy Affiliate, which taught awesome ways to truly make a living online by actually making a business and not getting into some sort of referral scheme like MOBE.
In fact, WA had their own battle against MOBE and won when it was shut down, they even donated a bunch of money to people who lost it through MOBE. You can check them out here and I promise you, they would never charge you MOBE prices, they are actually free to try.
I am a platinum member and need to be updated on the latest information concerning MOBE and any refunds.
Hi Richard, the only updated info I can offer is to check out the receiver site AND/OR check Google, type in MOBE and you should see blogs and/or updates for the company, but the receiver site will be the one that provides any info on how to get in touch with them for refunds.
Hello Vitaliy,
I had a similar journey to yours. I bought the $49 program with MOBE and I got to Day 6. Once I realized that I could not go further without buying the upgrade I stopped.
I had been appointed a ‘coach’. Her actual job was to force me to buy the upgrade and she spoke to me every day for 6 days on Skype.
When I complained that I could not finish the program without upgrading and asked for my money back, she blocked me on Skype, never to talk to me again.
I also tried to buy the book by Matt Lloyd from his website. My card was rejected, so I used another 2 cards. All 3 cards were then hacked and I spent the next 9 months fighting Visa to get almost $10,000 removed from my account.
It was a nightmare for almost a year from start to finish. On this occasion, I think the FTC did a good job, except they were too slow. It taught me due diligence!
Tim Bennett
Wow Tim, that’s a pretty horrible story. Despite the hacking happening (I hope you were able to solve that), it’s a good thing you didn’t lose more money in MOBE.
I agree with you about them not acting more quickly and besides the FTC, anyone who spoke awfully negatively about MOBE would receive a take down notice from them (myself included).
That “coach” you mentioned and what she did is also (sadly) no surprise. Once she saw that you weren’t a potential prospect for her to earn commissions, she just decided not to deal with you. That’s an awfully “nice” was to treat customers…
Hi Vitaliy!
I think it’s so unfortunate what happened to the people who joined MOBE. They were pursuing building an online business, but instead were given a sales job selling a horrible product.
I think it’s good the FTC shut it down, but I haven’t heard many stories of people getting their money back yet. Hopefully, people will do more research, unsubscribe from email lists that promote offers like that, and take a look at Wealthy Affiliate. It’s risk free and packs a load of great information for the newbie and experienced marketer alike.
Tiffany, I always enjoy reading your comments and pragmatic take on the subject of my articles. Thank you 🙂
I WAS a member of MOBE until it was shut down. Because of personal reasons/time, it was necessary for me to put the business on pause. I had already completed step 5 & spent the $2,000+ at that time before I placed the business on hold. When I tried to log back on the educational 21-step site, I didn’t have access to it. It was then I began to do some research & found out it was shut down. My goodness! Now there are other online businesses with high ticket items trying to encourage me to get into their business. Not doing it!
Yeah there’s different groups of people trying to capitalize off MOBE’s shut down. Some had no involvement with them and just want to funnel people to another promotion and then there’s those who were MOBE members, found a new high ticket system and just told everyone to join that. Either way, the same scheme is being run so you did the right thing staying away from it.
I was a member of MOBE at Titanium and it cost me $29,000 and I was $12,000 away from Platinum but only was able to make $94 and that was not enough for Matt to payout. I have had several other companies contact me about joining them and want me to watch a video that does not state how much money it cost to get started. Not one of them has answered my question about what they are selling are what the cost is to join. I have not and probably never will join another. Lost my caboose on this.
Carolyn hi, this is a terrible story but provided the receiver does their job, you may yet see those funds returned. Check that link I put above that’ll take you to the receiver site and stay tuned. If necessary get in contact with that person so they know about your situation. The whole purpose of that person’s job is to give back the money people lost in this scheme.
And I can tell you the other companies you looked into post MOBE were likely running a similar scheme. If there is no mention of pricing, odds are, it’s high ticket. You did the right thing in asking them to explain themselves. If they don’t bother doing it, run.
I can totally understand your position on never wanting to get involved in this stuff again, but if you check out that #1 recommendation, you will see a completely different program: Actual transparency, a legit business model and more. The pricing of that program is very low, but the value is way beyond that low price.
2 years ago I ALMOST joined the MOBE empire but a lot of things, like their “Personal Coach” was telling me wasn’t adding up. I asked tons of questions and every answer they gave me led back to them saying either…WE WILL DO THE WORK FOR YOU…or…If you don’t have the $2k, you should look to get a loan for this opportunity. So luckily I know a few people who joined and asked what their experience was which came down to a bunch of upselling and them saying more than half the time they couldn’t get a hold of their personal coach who was supposed to be helping them along. It was very suspect from the jump.
Wow Bryan, it sounds you definitely avoided a huge trap there. This “coaching” which sounds like nothing more than a clever tactic to sell the high ticket package and work your way up the up-sell ladder is certainly one of the suspicions I had regarding MOBE and your experience confirms that.
The “coach” saying the work will be done for you sounds like a great sales line, but in reality, makes no sense. This idea of sitting back after you pay a lot to have a business set up for you sounds like a complete scam and the more all these stories are coming out post MOBE’s shutdown, the happier I am I also didn’t get too involved with them and that my original review I had up of them, in which I flat out considered them a scam, was right.
Fantastic article. Today consumers across the board are losing millions in these high ticket scams. I like many, when you first try online business, you see the get rich quick schemes and you fall for it only to come out with nothing.
I was ready to just give up and I like many stumbled onto Wealthy Affiliate. That’s the real deal and it’s definitely everything you said. Thank you for this very informative article and this is a must read for all.
David
Yeah most people who start trying to make money are typically the first ones scammers get a hold of and in recent years, many have lost so many to these high ticket programs like MOBE. I have many of the same experiences you do and countless comments and stories which confirm this. But what you say about Wealthy Affiliate is true and I tell every beginner to this world to start there.
I joined mobe and was close to the end steps when it was shut down. Where can I follow the ftc announcements, I would like to get my initial money back if possible.
Hi John, I’d keep an eye out by Googling MOBE once a week and seeing if new updates pop up. As of now (I did it), there’s nothing new yet. As I mentioned, there is a receiver being appointed to handle this stuff and I’m certain there’s going to be a sign up to reach that person so they can help you get the money. If I see an update in this, I’ll post a direct link to the receiver page.
If you don’t mind me asking, you mentioned going through steps in MOBE. Are you referring to the 21 steps or did you get higher in the membership? Just curious. Also have you taken a look at the legitimate program I’ve discussed in this article? I think you’d really get great info out of that place.
I was going through the 21 steps. I was at step 20. I have not looked into the program as of yet.
Hi John, I am hoping you can clarify what you said because I just don’t understand what you mean. If you went through 20 out of the 21 steps, you would have already been involved deeply with the MOBE program and yet you said you didn’t look into it. Did you mean the other alternative I was recommending, Wealthy Affiliate?
I was going to be doing step 20 of 21 when it was shut down. I have not looked into the Wealthy Affiliate program as of yet. I will when I have the time to give it a good look. I only paid the initial amount to be able to go through the rest of the steps.
Ah ok, I understand now. So in this case, you paid $2,000+ inside MOBE right? I ask because after step 6 they require you pay about that much to get access to the other steps.
It was only a matter of time until the FTC dug its claws into MOBE. With the closure of Digital Altitude – Matt Lloyd and his affiliates surely knew MOBE was going to be next in line to get the chop.
I think if Matt had changed the structure of his platform so it didn’t reflect a “money-making scheme” – both he and his affiliates would still be in business.
But I guess when they see big bucks rolling into their accounts, why would they want to make any changes Personally, I don’t see a future for MOBE. And even if Matt Lloyd started up some other kind of new venture, could he really still be trusted? That’s the question on my mind.
Having been sucked in by Empower Network and Digital Altitude in the past (both now closed) – I just think the Internet Marketing world is better off without this shady stuff.
Thanks for the insights into MOBE/FTC.
Neil
Well you are right in that if Matt starts a new business, which I am sure he will, he will probably contest the FTC’s ruling on it, but it’s really the get rich quick system they targeted in all the programs you mentioned Neil and if the next big ticket program that comes out, whether by Matt or someone else functions the same way, it’ll probably be targeted by the FTC sooner or later too.
Hey Vitaliy, YES finally! I was stuck inside MOBE last year and I was wasting a lot of my money trying to succeed but I just couldn’t so I got out.
I was so heartbroken with my bank balance went negative so I wrote a review and even exposed their scammy member’s area through a video but they later brought that down and YouTube gave me a warning. Glad they finally got what they deserved.
Yeah MOBE was VERY big on taking down negative points of views, including an original post I set up many years ago, but it appears things have resolved since the take down. They can certainly bully down negative videos and blogs, but they can’t get away with that when it comes to the FTC.
I have to be honest with you; when I was still looking for a program to help me make money online, I did stumble upon MOBE a few times too.
The affiliates changed the name of their websites to disguise the program, but when I would read reviews on these programs, I would be told of the upsells and that immediately caused me to pivot, without looking back.
However even those reviewers would recommend their OWN products that would still be high ticket; for example, MOBE would be a $2K upsell and their’s would be a $500 upsell. $500 was still too much.
But since I also found Wealthy Affiliate, I have not looked back and everything that I now know in online business, I know thanks to Wealthy Affiliate.
I want to thank you for being honest in your reviews and providing helpful information to the newbie/affiliate marketing.
No problem Reyhana! Yeah a lot of MOBE affiliates created their own up-sell funnels and products in addition to pitching MOBE. I also ran into a lot of these where I would join those program, and then a sales funnel would lead me down into MOBE. That’s one of the reasons why I ended up rejoining it many times, I just didn’t know it was a MOBE sales funnel until I was too far in.
Considering how much the program already cost for people to join, charging more for coaching and other outside stuff is robbery if you ask me. At Wealthy Affiliate, we offer our members coaching, but it is PART of the membership which is already free and extremely cheap even if you upgrade, and you can bet we give people great coaching, because there are a ton of successful affiliate marketers in that community.
I hadn’t really heard of MOBE before at least until the headlines about the FTC shutting it down, but it sounds like it was never really a good program to be a part of to begin with especially given your experiences with it. There’s so many other MMO programs that do this type of stuff though, I’m surprised the FTC hasn’t gone after more of them or maybe they’re gearing up to. How long did it usually take you to get the $49 back?
When I directly dealt with MOBE for refund/cancellation requests, it was easy, when I got into the program through one of their affiliate sites promoting it, it was generally harder. But in terms of the FTC going after more companies like this, I think the trend is starting to happen Brian and we’re going to see more high ticket systems being investigated.
Hi Vitaliy, I enjoyed reading your review of MOBE, and your recommendation for WA. I never came across MOBE but what you describe seems to be a familiar pattern in my experience. MLM seems to be a model adopted by many similar systems. I know WA having joined last August, so your recommendation to me is absolutely true and plausible.
Alan
Thanks Alan. MOBE isn’t an MLM program, just wanted to clear that up 🙂