September 25, 2006 in Hyderabad, India, investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department raided the offices of Amway, a well-known multilevel marketing company. The raids were conducted on Amway offices branches located in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellor, Tirupati and other towns after people have filed complaints about cheating by some of the distributors and seized the records in the Andhra Pradesh Office of Amway and its other offices in India.

The state police have recorded cases and complaints against the company and persons that have connections with Amway India Enterprises and its operations in those areas that have been mentioned under sections of IPC, like the Section 420 and the prize chits and the Money Circulation Scheme (prevention) Act of 1978.  It have been the first instance in the country and anywhere else around the world that Amway Corporation, which operates direct marketing opportunities by offering unbelievable incentives or commissions to their members upon entry of new members in their down line has entangled themselves with law enforcement authorities.

An officer with the Criminal Investigation Department has commented that the complainants have alleged that Amway has cheated them by promising them a huge income and it did not happened. Amway encourages and directs members by organizing conventions. Multilevel company Amway encourages would be members by holding large conventions and then in that convention, convinces the members to pay as much as Rs.10, 000 up to Rs.15, 000 as distributor fees in promise of a healthy return of investment in the near future, but that will depend on the number of members that the potential member would be able to attract to the organization. The distributors will also be categorized into ranks in the company like silver, gold and platinum ranks depending on the number of their recruits.

But those who have complained against the company have alleged that a large quantity of people at the bottom of the ranks were exploited and hustled out of their hard earned investments. Nobody from the marketing company Amway was available to comment on the allegations and the case that have been filed against them.

Multilevel marketing company Amway is a well-known leader in the direct selling market and says that they have over three million independent business (IBO’s) that are located in almost 80 countries and territories all over the world like in the United States where it enjoys a large following despite recent criticisms on the company in the past years.