A luxury lifestyle, travel, and community, are all promoted as possible.
Success, wealth, a luxurious lifestyle, and world travel. These are some examples of what is said to await those who start currency trading with the company IM Academy.
Authorities in many countries have issued warnings about the company, and several observers are of the opinion that IM Academy has the characteristics of a pyramid scheme.
Instead of answering Norran's questions, one of IM Academy's representatives recorded a video on the Tiktok platform, attacking people who read news in general.
– If you are a person who listens and trusts in what newspapers say, especially SVT and yes, newspapers in general, fucking skip this video and go away, he says, rather incoherently.
He then goes on to deliver an expletive-laden attack on Norran:
– Media is crap, shit, garbage, bullshit. If you don't know, newspapers were created to control the population. To control older people and brainwash them, he says.
Norran has tried to contact the man to get his version of what IM Academy is all about.
But because he chooses to communicate on Tiktok, we have not been able to ask any follow-up questions.
Much of IM Academy revolves around the ability to purchase currency trading education packages. The courses are expensive; first there is an initial fee of either 1,600 or 2,700 kronor - and then a high monthly subscription is added.
It is said that if you recruit more people to join, you will receive a bonus on a weekly basis.
A former user told the BBC that it is indeed possible to make money with the concept, but because of all the recurring fees that must be paid to IM Academy, you'd have to trade more than £13,000 to earn £1,000 per month.
The terms of use on the IM Academy website state that members are not allowed to speak to the media without permission from a specific department.
In the Tiktok video, the IM Academy representative argues that it is not a pyramid scheme at all, but rather a form of network marketing or "multi-level marketing" as it is called in English.
Network marketing is a method of sales and marketing in which sellers are paid primarily for recruiting new sellers. Typically, it involves the sale of a physical product, such as health supplements. This is not the case with IM Academy.
According to VoF, a Swedish body devoted to debunking bad science and countering deceptive organizations, network marketing in practice is often a disguised form of a pyramid scheme. They write on their website:
"From a scientific point of view, the claims made by recruiters about the profit opportunities for new distributors are often questionable."
Very accomplished IM Academy members are said to be able to earn over two million Swedish kronor per month.
The United States Federal Trade Commission states:
"Most people who join network marketing schemes make very little or no money. Many lose money. In some cases, people believe they have joined a legitimate business, but it turns out to be an illegal pyramid scheme that steals everything they invest and leaves them deeply in debt."
In the Tiktok video, the IM Academy representative says:
– This is absolutely not something you will make quick money on. You have to put in work day in and day out. Sleepless nights. You have no boss limiting you and telling you when you can go to the bathroom. I dropped out of school, and it paid off for me. I live with my wife, thank God.
Prior to publication, Norran tried to contact the man in the video, but he chose not to respond.
Read more: "Our sons have been brainwashed"
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Do you have experiences with IM Academy? Get in touch with us at tipsa@norran.se.