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The story
A post went up on 5ch describing how the poster, invited out by someone they’d met at a job fair, walked as far as the building entrance before realizing it was an Amway recruitment pitch and turning back. Users with similar experiences flooded the thread with details: meetings staged with a fixed two-against-one seating arrangement, an organizational structure where recruiters link together like parent and child, and the tactic of serving home-cooked meals at house parties. Reactions varied — some said they simply took the free food without joining, while others voiced anxiety over having handed out their contact information.
What people said
Someone I met at a job fair.
Yeah, they're out there — you get them on dating apps too.
Total time thieves, seriously.
It really hit me that these people actually exist.
And the pitch was so smooth, like it was straight from a script.
Did they at least pay for the meal?
Wow, really.
Glad I got out before they gave me the pitch.
Any mysterious outdoor group with zero consistency in age or look is basically always an MLM.
Total waste of time.
This part genuinely made me sad.
We went out to eat and the conversation was actually fun while it lasted.
A "parent" keeps a stable of "children," and those children have children of their own.
When a "child" gets a mark to pay up, a cut flows back up to the "parent," and they'll even give a freshly recruited "child" a place to live so they can't run off right after being sworn in.
If you ever meet one, fake some interest and pump them for details about how they actually live.
It's a fascinating peek into the abyss.
So it's basically a pyramid scheme, then.
No, they didn't treat me.
But I got to go to a restaurant I'd wanted to try, so I'm satisfied.
You'd think they'd cover dinner as a business investment.
Otherwise their whole 'you can make money with this' pitch loses all credibility.
LOL, that's on the nose.
Is there such a thing as a 'pyramid scheme face'?
I think there is.
Also their eyes are always wide and intense.
I never join, but I'll eat as much free food as they'll give me.
They're broke, so they won't treat you.
They'll show off cooking in their prized pots, feed you food that isn't even that good, and then hit you with 'that'll be 1,000 yen a head' for ingredients.
Turns out I'd landed on another group's word-of-mouth blacklist of 'don't invite this guy.' Honestly, most house parties around Shibuya and Setagaya are Amway anyway, and now nobody invites me — come on, invite me, you cheapskates.
Guess word really does get around between them, huh.
There's always been a rumor that, say what you will, their products are genuinely good.
Guess that makes job seekers easy targets?
When you're job hunting you're prone to feeling down and your judgment gets fuzzy, so yeah, you're an easy mark.
I already gave them my LINE and my name — think I'm actually at risk of anything?
Nope.
Zero chance.
This is just routine business for them, nothing more.
That's exactly why nobody but the top boss ever actually has any money.
You can find their stuff dirt cheap all over Mercari.
The guy who approached me genuinely seemed to be job hunting for real, so I don't think this racket has much of a future.
The old-guard bosses who locked in customers early are still coasting on that.
Stuff like Sharp's Plasmacluster — I don't think it does much either, but since there's nothing quite like it on the market, regular customers, not just Amway true believers, still buy that kind of thing.
Nope, this was actually my first time being recruited for anything at all.
LOL, that brings back way too many memories.
Background and Talking Points
Amway is well known in Japan as a major player in “multi-level marketing” (network business), characterized by pricey proprietary products — water purifiers, air purifiers, cookware — sold through a chain of recruitment among acquaintances. Legally, it operates under registration with Japan’s Act on Specified Commercial Transactions and is distinct from an outright pyramid scheme (mugen rensa-kou), but the “profits flow from child up to parent” structure described in the thread is similar enough that the two are often conflated. The thread also shows recruitment often starting from familiar settings, like a job fair or an old elementary school classmate, not just approaches from total strangers. Several posters noted that handing over contact information rarely leads to actual financial harm, but that’s based on individual anecdotes — the thread doesn’t address other potential costs, like persistent follow-up recruitment or strain on personal relationships.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “Got recruited into Amway lol.”
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