Matt Lloyd’s MOBE scam was declared fraudulent and shut down June 5th 2018, by the FTC. My Own Business Education (MOBE) was started initially in 2011, according to Matt Lloyd’s website. They described themselves as a business training company,offering a large selection of business training products.These included “online training products, services, live training seminars and other products, to help you along your business journey” Their seminar ads promoted “freedom from the 9 to 5 rat race” and potential income from $5,000 to $10,000 per month. I posted this for my readers who asked about Matt Lloyd’s MOBE scam.
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Matt Lloyd’s Mobe Scam-My Online Business Education
- Name – My Own Business Education (MOBE LTD)
- Website – MOBE.com (now shut down)
- Price – $49 + 19.95/mly + upsells (up to $29,997)
- Owners – Matt Lloyd
- Location – Malaysia
- Quality – MLM program – Very Expensive Affiliate Program for MOBE
- Overall Rank – Zero– Bilked people out of Millions of dollars.
- Verdict – Shut Down by FTC
What Was Matt Lloyd’s MOBE Scam Selling?
MOBE was selling a product that would produce $5,000 to $10,000 per month. That is a very substantial claim. In fact, you could call it a great product! It would allow anyone the opportunity to make $120,000 a year? But, why sell it for $49 + $20 bucks a month?
This “product” was actually a multi-level marketing scheme MLM that forced people to purchase more and more expensive levels, in order to promote higher cost MOBE “products”.
Here is a breakdown of Matt Lloyds MOBE scam and how it worked.
Matt Lloyds MOBE Scam Product Levels – A Typical MLM
The Affiliate level cost $49
- Plus $19.95 per month membership (The basic level)
- Anyone you recruited would start here. As they earned commissions, you got a share of their commissions.
- Must purchase the higher levels in MOBE to qualify for commissions from any recruits who purchased higher levels.
- Forced people to buy more expensive products, just to be able to receive commissions for selling it.
- No fee for a higher level, if you “qualify” by selling 5 products at the higher level.
Silver Master Class – $2497
- Plus $27 per month for the (Inner circle membership)
- $216 full year payment-(4 month discount)
- Formerly MLR -MOBE License Rights – Allowed members to receive commissions on sales from others MLR (Silver Master Class) and Affiliate level below. Silver Master Class also included training. This training basically gave sales training for selling the MOBE System.
- MOBE Licensee Kit
- My Online Business Empire -8 hrs
- Funded Proposal – 17 hrs
- Affiliate Bonus – 11 hrs
- OPT formula – 14 hrs
- Extra modules -constant updates
- The Inner Circle also gave you access to your Elite Coaching.
Gold Masterclass $4997
- Plus – $64 per month for inner circle membership
- $512 full year payment – (4 month discount)
- Allowed members to receive commissions on sales from promoting Gold Masterclass level and below. Five thousand bucks + $64 a month….Now some people might go for this!
Titanium – $9,997
- Plus – $121 per month for inner circle membership
- $968 full year payment – (4 month discount)
- Allowed members to receive commissions on sales from promoting Titanium level and below, for the low price of 10k + $121 a month! Whoa!
Platinum – $16,667
- Plus – $198 per month for inner circle membership
- $1584 full year payment – (4 month discount)
- Allowed members to sell and receive commissions from sales promoting Platinum level and below. But, $16,667 is a lot of money + 200 per month! This is the cost of a new car!
Diamond – $29,997
- Plus – $295 per month for inner circle membership
- $2360 full year payment – (4 month discount)
- Allowed members to sell and receive commissions from sales of Diamond promotions and all levels below. A whopping $29,997 fee! That is just unbelievable! And you still pay $300 a month as well? This is all for learning how to sell this model/memberships to others!
Promoting Matt Lloyd’s MOBE Scam Was The Business Model
With MOBE, you were supposedly creating a business, and also claimed the training could be used for creating product niches to earn income. Product niches were downplayed as the primary product was membership recruitment.
One only needs to look at the outrageous membership costs and fees, and the real moneymaker quickly becomes apparent. The big money is in commissions, and gaining recruits underneath you. This is the classic MLM.
The result was much more selling the system to others. Everyone who made anything, did it by selling memberships to MOBE.
Since everyone must invest at every level to promote that level, the costs were enormous. And they were required to pay in order to be able to promote and receive commissions from the next level. You could avoid paying the fee on the next level, if you sold 5 memberships of the next higher level.
Remember, this all started with a $49 product, and quickly became a series of upsells.
But, this scheme didn’t stop there, they had plenty of products with fantastic commissions.
Additional MOBE Products
Once you purchased you MLR license, you had the rights products to sell that offered a 90% Commission rate. Plenty of products were offered to earn those juicy commissions.
- $99 – monthly product – The Vault
- $97 – monthly product – MOBE Elite Earners
- $194 – Email Marketing Empire
- $194 – The OPT Formula (Outsourcing Formula)
- $291 – Affiliate Bonus Domination
- $194 – Funded Proposal
- $9.95 – IM Revolution Handbook
- $297 – MOBE Licensing Kit
- $297 – Traffic Masters Academy
- $39.95 – Instant Info Product
Even More Products to Sell
You had additional products you could sell with a 50% commission.
- $1997 – 10,000 Leads in 100 Days
- $995 – Online Income Revolution
- $997 – The 90 Day Challenge
- $995 – Six Figure Coaching Secrets
- $997 – Add the Nitrous
- AND SEVERAL OTHERS
It was all to bait their members into believing it was training. But in fact it was generating more and more cash for MOBE. And they did this by creating one big illusion you could make some real money with this program. In fact,they promised $5,000 to $10,000 a month! So, what is not to like?
Well, for one you have to sell very high end products to recoup you investment of tens of thousands of dollars, not easy to do. Members were encouraged to enroll friends and family members. I doubt many family members could afford to go beyond the basic level.
Promised Refunds Never Materialize
When the profits weren’t appearing, some members started to realize it was just one big sales funnel, costing tens of thousands of dollars, they wanted out. MOBE clearly stated you could get a refund at anytime, but they just stalled when you tried to get one.
Unfortunately, refunds were near impossible to obtain. They got promises of refunds that never came. Some free trial offers can be scams, by signing you up for other products and not issuing refunds.
The members could not get their money back, because they were ignored. This will delay refunds, but it is not ignored by the FTC. When this happens they will investigate complaints.
Some people had over $100,000 invested, others $10,000 or more. This didn’t even include the money people wasted on additional costs for extra training seminars, and materials. This was all required to be paid by members, in order to continue to sell more memberships.
Matt Lloyd’s MOBE Scam Did Not Deliver On Promises
The Better Business Bureau had a warning posted in 2017 to potential investors to be cautious when attending The Internet Marketing Freedom Workshops run by My Own Business Education (MOBE).
They stated “the company failed to live up to it’s financial promises, did not deliver ordered merchandise, and pressured people into buying additional products, and also stalled on refunds”
MOBE Disclaimer Reports – Average Income of Less Than $250 a Year
Even the income disclaimer statement on their website states the average consultant “generates less than $250 per year” Wow!
For investing large sums of money, enough to buy a brand new car with cash, making $250 a YEAR is a far cry from $5,000 to $10,000 per month as claimed.
MOBE was also affiliated with other companies. Each one of these products were just a storefront that ultimately funneled visitors and members right into their own website.
- My Top Tier Business MTTB)
- Internet Funnel Systems
- 45 Minute Paydays
- Matt Lloyd Publishing
- And many others
Wealthy Affiliates Sued By MOBE
Kyle, the owner of Wealthy Affiliates posted an article on January 30,2014, claiming the MOBE should be avoided. The article titled My Online Business Empire Review – Another Obvious Scam . Is Matt Lloyd’s Mobe a Scam? Well, the FTC now says it operated fraudulently, so I say the answer was – YES. And in fact, the article was stating the truth.
At the time, this article was so infuriating to MOBE and Matt Lloyd, they decided to file a lawsuit against Wealthy Affiliates. They claimed it was not true.
On December 23, 2015, Wealthy Affiliates were served with a lawsuit from MOBE Ltd, claiming defamation by the “Another Obvious Scam” article that Kyle had wrote. In the article, Kyle, had carefully presented the facts that led him to believe that MOBE was a scam. Now Wealthy Affiliates had no choice but to prove there case in court.
MOBE did everything they could to drag the case out. Then, things changed. The FTC brought charges against Matt Lloyd and MOBE and forced them to shut down. In turn, this caused the lawsuit with Wealthy Affiliates to be ruled in Wealthy Affiliates favor. You can read the whole story here.
We Were Sued, We Stood Up, We prevailed
Is Matt Lloyd’s MOBE a Scam – Yes, it Was!
Many lessons can be learned from this company and the way in which it operated, deceived people and finally was shut down by the FTC. You can read what the FTC reported about this company here Mobe and the FTC.
The FTC report stated MOBE had bilked customers out of $125,000,000! A staggering amount of money! I doubt that the victims will see more than pennies on the dollar from this scam.
Beware of Results That Are Just Too Good To Be True
My point of writing this review of MOBE was to make everyone aware of just how these scams operate. I wanted to take a look under the hood for clues to use in sniffing out future scams.
It will help everyone to learn from these outrageous promises! All the claims of overnight riches are just fools gold. You now know exactly what a fraudulent system looks and sounds like, so I hope this helps to keep you safe from other scams out there.
When you get ads promoting fantastic results, that are to good to be true, ..IT IS! Claims of little or no work required, are scams. Run away!
Even some companies that seem to be legitimate companies at first, turn out to be bad companies later. Vibrant Web is an example. They make you think they are a legitimate company, when they are completely fraudulent and deceptive.
Slow And Steady Wins Most Often
Making steady income that will help you to produce a better life, will require work. The pie in the sky, get rich quick formula is a myth. It is human nature,and just like the moth chasing the candle flame, it has devastating results.
Unfortunately people will still try to grab that brass ring, and play lottery tickets with fantastic payouts in the millions and even billions! Somebody has to win, and you can’t win if you don’t play, right! It is ok if you only spend $5, but don’t spend your paycheck to increase your odds.
Save Your Money
Sadly, with the odds of one chance in hundreds of millions, the chances of winning are slim indeed! Why keep chasing your dream with lousy odds, when you could make it happen, with some help from people who are doing it now?
If you are serious about wanting to earn money online, and want to learn how to do it the right way, then I can help you. Are you sick and tired of all the scams and fake guru’s Do you want something that really works? I can help you! Learn to earn money online the right way.
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Final Word
If you have read to this point, congratulations! You have just learned some important points to use in judging if a product you are considering is a scam. Quickly, a few main points to remember about recognizing scams.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Research any wild promises of big money before you buy. Don’t chase the shiny objects.
- Do not send money before you know what the program is and how it makes money. Legitimate companies are not hiding the truth. Look for a free trial (be careful there some are free trial traps also) Here is one example – Read The Smart Pill Scam
- UP-SELLS – The biggest read flag. Products that have many up-sells and claim you have to pay more in order to be successful, are often fraudulent.
If you have any questions or comments,or a product you want me to look at? Please leave them below and I will get back to you. I answer all my readers.
Chas
Business Tips
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I am Chas, creator and founder of Help For Scams And Frauds. I started affiliate marketing and earning money online in 2015. And I can tell you, anyone can do this. But, in order to build a business the right way you must have the right training and avoid the get rich quick schemes.
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Hi Chas,
Thank you for many comprehensive reviews. Greeting from New Zealand.
Thankfully, I read a couple of critical reviews of Ecom courses and this one with MOBE, I remember they actually came to my city Christchurch for a free presentation conference. And one of my friends went and eventually, in the end, they started to charge people. Luckily, we only lost around 200 USD each for marketing books and a brochure. I found it a bit of a joke when I thought about that after a week or two weeks. And realise that was a major red flag.
After did a bit of digging into MOBE. They get around all different countries and trying to scam people who go to their event.
Now, I am working on a hopefully long-term sustainable local business model, help local businesses generate leads through free traffic and Google page ranking to the top for small and medium businesses which I hope is finally a legit online business model. Because I am sick and tired of paid ads and event Instagram influencers made me feel sick doing that with eCom kinds of stuff.
Cheers
Hi Alec,
Thank you for your kind words. Yes, it was a great day when MOBE was finally shut down for good. As you have read, they called Wealthy Affiliate a scam! Well, Wealthy Affiliate is alive and doing fine as one of the biggest affiliate networks in the world. If you are building your own website, you can learn quite a bit from them, if you are not already a member.it is one of the best ways to earn money legitimately by building your own website and promoting affiliate products. They use organic search methods that don’t require you to spend a ton of money on ads.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, and good luck on your website!
Chas
Mobe is a scam. The main product offered is keep recruiting new members. It’s difficult for such a company to last. I have come across several MLM and they don’t last at all. Mobe has deceived many with fake promises and offer to refund money back if customers need refunds and the company never keep to his promises. Why would it not be closed…
Hi Vwegba,
Yes, Matt Lloyd’s Mobe Scam fooled a lot of people. They thought that by getting others to sing up, they were earning great commissions and would be wealthy quick! You are right about SOME MLM programs, there are plenty that work…Avon, AMSOIL, Mary Kay, Amway! They have survived because the are legit companies with an actual product to sell! Mobe had no real product, just training on how to sell Mobe! A classic pyramid scheme.
Yep, after people saw what was going on, Mobe wouldn’t give anybody refunds!! They never said no, they just drug their feet and brushed everyone off, and finally just ignored them. That is a classic way these scammers handle people, just ignore them. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment,
Chas
I read about Weaalthy Affilate being sued by Mobe. Totally ridiculous!
After reading these facts about Mobe, are you kidding or what??
How could someone charge people this kind of money? I’m sitting here reading this with my mouth wide open!Who in their right mind would or even could pay $30,000 for a program?
I’m sorry, I just cannot get past any of these figures. To me, Mobe has to be THE biggest scam ever!
Hi Rob,
I know, it is hard to believe people would fall for this! However, remember these people did not know it was not on the up and up! They were victimized by good salespeople! I think that the people who could afford this were duped into believing it had to be real to cost that much. One of the sales tactics they used was “How much doe a 4year education cost at a quality university?” I mean when you think it is legit, you can understand that argument, right?
Well, he was not the biggest, remember Bernie Madoff? He was the biggest fraud by a single person at 65 BILLION !!!! All those investors thought he was a great investor! So, it is a good thing that Matt Lloyd’s Mobe Scam got shut down by the FTC!!!
Thanks for the great comment,Rob, and stop back!
Chas
Wow! I can’t believe that companies out there would do this kind of thing. It’s all clever marketing isn’t it? I know sometimes I’m tempted to try things out because of the potential for income, but when you really look into it you realise that it is too good to be true. Slow and steady definitely wins out!
Hi Fiona< The internet has scams like this going on everyday, that's why people need to be warned to help them from being victimized by these crooks.The problem is they make it look like it is a great way to make money, but it is not!Everyone wants to grab for the brass ring, and fast money.Usually it is a scam. Working for it using ethical methods takes far longer, and people want the easy money! I hope others learn from Matt Lloyd's Mobe Scam before they become a victim! Thanks for leaving a comment, Chas
It’s indeed a great news that Matt Lloyd’s Mobe scam was shut down by the FTC. Personally, one thing I don’t like with products that claim to teach how to make money online is upsells. Upsells usually turn me off and give an impression that the program is a big scam. Mobe is a typical MLM Company.
HI Barry,
Mobe was definitely a scam.Matt Lloyd’s Mobe Scam was never contested by Matt Lloyd.He agreed to settle immeditately with the FTC, so he pretty much admitted his guilt. Sadly, he claimed that wealthy Affiliate was a scam and they are not! I don’t like upsells either, it send me running the other way!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment,
Chas
Wow! Nice article. I’m pretty skeptical about MLM Pyramid Schemes. They don’t actually offer any real services that will keep people sticking around for long or even maybe a life time. They are shinny objects that promise to make one rich overnight. People are so after shinny objects that they fall so cheaply. This article is an eye opener.
Thanks for exposing…
Hi BEazzy,
Thank you! I dislike MLM companies for the fact you have to recruit people. The “legitimate” ones do provide some security with you downline recruits making money and you getting a commission. But, that only lasts as long as your recruits stay inboard. It is a risky type of passive income, I don’t care for it.
I like Wealthy Affiliates much better for learning to make money.
Matt Lloyds MOBE Scam was a very expensive deal in the first place, and it may have turned some away quickly. But, they bilked $125,000,000 million bucks from people. So, far too many people bought the story!
Thanks for leaving a comment and glad you like the review.
Chas
WOWZERS, I remember looking at MOBE awhile back. That is crazy, to think I actually gave it a serious consideration. I am so happy I did not. So, you go on to talk about Wealthy Affiliate (WA) and I am so glad you do. I too looked into WA and found that it is not only a very legit training platform and proven system it is a great place with a wonderful community. Tis is why I always refer anyone who is even halfway serious about internet marketing to WA. I mean, it is free to check out, I mean absolutely free. Don’t even have to break out the credit card for this ne folks. LOL. I serious can’t say enough about the level of quality that WA offers
Hi Free4life,
Good thing you didn’t get involved with Mobe, it was a disaster for sure. I never could have gone very far if I had gotten bit, but it was possible I could have loaded up a credit card for the first level for sure!
Wealthy Affiliates is a gold mine for sure. People still think it is just too much work to build everything from scratch. So, they keep chasing the get rich quick schemes. That is why they work so well. Even if you show them for free, they kick the tires and leave.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment
I remember reading about this company because they had a lawsuit against Wealthy Affiliate which they lost.
I didn’t really know much about their business model. But, it looks a lot like Empower Network which was labeled as a pyramid scheme by the FTC. Eventually, it got shut down, too.
But, this one is insane! Diamond for $29,997! But, you still have to pay $300/month. Seriously, I wonder how many people really went all in with this Matt Lloyds Mobe scam?
It’s good to see that they got shut down and can’t rip anymore people off.
Hi Garen,
They were in the news quite a bit, and people are asking about them. They want to know how they can get their money back. But, sadly it is up to the receiver and how much they can recover.
I always recommend Wealthy Affiliate for anyone trying to make money online.
You have to wonder if maybe Matt Lloyd didn’t use the same model as David Wood and the Empower network scam.
I honestly can’t imagine anyone dumping $30,000 and agreeing to pay $300 as well! But, Kyle did say some people lost $100,000 in the scam! Unbelievable! That is a decent US home right there! Well, I don’t know how many were involved, but the figure of $125,000,000 lost says it was a fairly large number of people.
I agree, good riddance!
Thanks Garen for stopping by and taking the time to comment,
Chas
Hello. You never hear about scams being shut down. It is sad that the site took away millions from individuals though. That platinum cost is too crazy. I can’t believe they charged that. Who would pay that though?! If you were actually making a lot of money then I can see you reaching that point eventually. Normal people can’t afford that. It would be life savings that people would pay to be in the club.
Hi Rachel,
Yes this is one that did get shut down, I remember others like Empower Network. $30,000 is a crazy amount and they also had to pay a $300 a month membership fee as well, plus pay for traveling to MOBE seminars and workshops! Incredibly, some people lost $100,000 in this scam. I try to recommend Wealthy Affiliates for starting any kind of business.
Thanks for stopping and leaving a comment,
Chas
thanks for this in-depth review about what mobe was. Even though I didn’t know much about the company —after reading your article I can clearly see why this was indeed a scam.
I mean some of there products were thousands of dollars — and at the end of the day all you were doing is trying to get people to join Mobe, buy these training’s provided, and repeat the same process.
Honestly I don’t know how they stayed around as long as they did, and I’m glad that Wealthy Affiliate didn’t back down when they got sued by them.
Did you know anyone that did join Mobe before it got shut down?
Hi Michael,
I am glad you liked the review, and like you I didn’t realize just how big a scam MOBE really was, until I researched them myself. yes, the prices people were paying were just unbelievable. But, I can remember Matt Lloyd posted something like if you go to a college or university, you pay a lot of money for an education…and that is how he justified the cost!
Yes, all it was in the end was a very expensive affiliate program that you literly paid very high fees to have the right to sell their products. which turned out to be more ways to sell their products. One big funnel.
Wealthy Affiliates does not have upsells, and they are the real deal.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment,
Chas
I had heard about More for a while now and have been disgusted from the beginning not only because of the crooks they were, but at the people who don’t educate themselves and fall for this.
I also read the post in WA about the problems they were dealing with because of Mobe. And I was ecstatic that WA stuck with it for those 3 years and finally prevailed 🙂
Good bye Mobe!
Hi Stew,
Yep, goodbye MOBE! They were so outrageous on their fees, it is a wonder they did as well as they did. It was kinda sneaky what they did, and if people were new to the internet and had no experience with scams, this was easy to fall prey to! I am glad Wealthy Affiliates graciously donated $65,000 to the victims! They lost a lot of money!
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment,
Chas