My Online Business Empire (MOBE) – Scam Or Opportunity

My Top Tier Business aka MTTB aka My Online Business Empire aka MOBE. Is this another scam or an opportunity?

2020 Update: MOBE Affiliates to Pay More Than $4 Million to Settle Charges.

“A group of affiliate marketers who lured consumers into a business coaching and investment scheme known as My Online Business Education (MOBE) will surrender millions of dollars in assets to settle Federal Trade Commission charges.” Source: FTC

2018 Update: MOBE Declared to be Fraudulent By the FTC.

MOBE, Ltd is Now In Receivership and Has Been Declared to be Fraudulent By the FTC.
“The defendants are Matthew Lloyd McPhee, also known as Matt Lloyd, an Australian living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Russell W. Whitney, Jr.; Susan Zanghi; MOBE Ltd., also doing business as MOBE, My Online Business Education, and My Own Business Empire; MOBEProcessing.com Inc.; Transaction Management USA Inc.; MOBETraining.com Inc.; 9336-0311 Quebec Inc., also d/b/a Business Education Training; MOBE Pro Limited; MOBE Inc.; MOBE Online Ltd.; and Matt Lloyd Publishing.com Pty Ltd., also d/b/a Matt Lloyd Publishing and Home Business Builders.”

A few days ago I received an e-mail inviting me to a free webinar where I was going to learn something amazing. I must admit, I signed up for this e-mail somewhere. I have been inside Internet Marketing world for way too long and I usually don’t sign up to new e-mail lists. However, from time to time I sign-up to hyped up product/program launches just to see what’s going on in the IM world at the moment.

The webinar I joined was called “How to make $10k in CASH this MONTH”. Now the guy who invited me was someone who shared some interesting information online, naturally I trusted him. Lights are dimmed and the web seminar begins. Lots of hype at first. Then more hype. So far so good. Then comes the part which scares the experienced marketers away and sucks in the newbies: “A SECRET Shortcut” and “It’s All Done For You”.

I have been online for almost 8 years and one thing I am 100% sure of – there are no shortcuts. If you want to build a successful online business you will have to learn a lot, put a lot of time and effort into it. When I was just starting out I also looked for a shortcut. I found lots of shortcuts, most costing from $7 to $197. Unfortunately those “shortcuts” were all scams and unfortunately I fell for them. Lesson learned at my own expense. At some point I was going to quit the idea of online marketing, that’s when I stumbled upon WA in 2007 but that’s another story.

MTTB (My Top Tier Business) affiliates have been pushing this program very hard and I can’t blame them – the commissions for every sale can go to up to thousands of dollars. However, the first issue I had was the affiliate pushing this “Secret Platform” never admitted what it was till the very end. He did say once you are in you have to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement. Maybe this is to prevent people from telling the truth about this program?

So what exactly is MTTB?

MTTB is basically a line of ridiculously overpriced, low quality info products and training. It feels more like an MLM (Multi Level Marketing) than anything else because members of this “system” make money by selling that same system to others.

I was offered to become a free member of this system. Later I found out that “free” means $49. They say this is the application fee, but the system in itself is free. After your payment you are given a 21-step-plan that will make you rich. After this plan you can become a license holder for a modest sum of $1997 (yes, almost 2 thousand dollars) or you can remain a simple affiliate. In that case you will be charged 19$ per month. Here is my first problem: You need to pay a fee in order to be an affiliate! Go look at Clickbank, or Amazon, or eBay partners, or C omission Junction – all free. A reputable affiliate program will never charge you a fee simply so you have the right to promote them. However, all shady MLMs charge you for this.

“If you are serious”, as MTTB promoters claim, you will become a basic license holder for $1997. Then if you are really serious you will become a Titanium member for another payment of $9,000. And if you are very really serious you will pay up another $15,000 to become a Platinum member. Basic will allow you to sell…  the basic license for $2k, Titanium members are allowed to sell the Titanium license and Platinum sell Platinum (MLM much?). Let’s not forget other monthly payments and different upsells/downsells.

To become a full member of MOBE (MTTB) you will have to pay $26,000 plus monthly fees. How ridiculous is that?

And all you get in return is the right to sell these same products to other people. Who will then try to push it further to other unsuspecting folks. It’s really sad.

But What About The $500 Guarantee?

MTTB does a great job at pulling new people in because newbies fall for scams. When I was a newbie I fell for many scams as well. My Top Tier Business offers a very interesting $500 guarantee. They promise to Paypal you $500 if you do not make at least $1,000 in your first month with them. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? And here is how it really works.

You pay the $49 to get in. Then you follow the 21 steps and fork out $1997 to buy the basic license. If after this you can prove to MTTB that you have followed all twenty-one steps and did what they told you to and still didn’t make money – they will refund you $500. Well, you have just given them $2046 – I am sure they can afford to give $500 back to you. Not much of a guarantee now, is it? If they were honest and wanted you to succeed, they’d let you try it all for free.

The Franchise Scam

There are many complaints about MTTB online and many people calling it a scam. There are also those poor souls who fell for MTTB/MOBE and spent the $2k or more and those folks will defend the program as much as they can. I understand them, if I lost $2k I would be in denial as well.

So these folks who defend MTTB often compare it to a franchise. What’s really amusing is the fact that they actually all went through the same training because all of them compare MTTB to McDonalds. Every single time someone calls out the MLM resemblance in My Online Business Empire, MOBE members scream: “No, it’s a franchise business, just like McDonalds!” Here is the truth though. McDonalds is a franchise business and the franchise owners sell Coke, Burgers and McNuggets – NOT other McDonalds franchises.

When you become a MOBE franchisee you sell the same franchise to others. I hope they aren’t using the word “franchise” in any of their documents because that might actually be illegal in the USA. Although as far as I understand this company is registered in Panama, where US laws don’t apply to them. Smart move.

Besides simply trying to defend this “Done For You Proven System” affiliates will also act very rude. They are pushy, they insult people and they simply act badly. Often they will call people “losers” and “idiots” for doubting MTTB and everything related to it.

MTTB Support

Besides charging crazy prices for their “exclusive” membership MTTB seems to not be able to offer a good support to its users. You can find plenty of complaints online from MOBE / MTTB members saying the platform is not working properly, not giving them access. Some folks even paid $6,000 to MOBE and still didn’t get access to the program. Now this person complained to their support desk, to her “trainer/affiliate” but nothing was ever resolved. At some point she asked for a refund and guess what – no answer. This person had to do chargebacks, deal with bank, credit cards and even My Online Business Empire-falsified documents. The whole experience of dealing with MOBE turned into a disaster:

So yeah, forget their support. MOBE claims to make millions of dollars per year, yet they can’t even help their own paying customers?

The Verdict.

I call SCAM on MOBE / MTTB. You shouldn’t pay such crazy sums of money to have the right to sell the same thing to others. There is no such thing as “Done For You Shortcuts” to riches. At the very least, it’s simply unethical to sell this kind of products to people who don’t know any better.

You can also check out MTTB disclaimer directly on their website:

Based on industry standards and company projections, the average annual gross income for affiliates is projected to be anywhere between $500 and $2,000.

Less than 1% of all participants will earn sufficient income with MOBE to serve as their sole source of income.

Do I need to say more?

What Now?

My main income is earned through internet marketing. I have been learning the ropes since 2007 and I can admit there aren’t many honest programs that will help you make money. When I started I came across the WA. This is not some magic system, this is not a guaranteed way to millions. This is one of the oldest and most respected Internet Marketing learning communities. They don’t hype things up, they teach you how to build a business online. The best part? It’s totally free for the basic membership. Yes, $0 to become a member. You can check out my full Wealthy Affiliate review here.

Best of success,

– Alex