Long lost friend has taken a photo of my house and posted it on Instagram

[instapaints]

Last week, a friend (whom I've not seen in nearly 2 years) texted me that she was in the area and asked we could meet to 'catch up on old times'. I unfortunately wasn't free and she told me that she could just stop by my place for a quick coffee. Fine. An hour of good conversation later, and she brought out essential oils for me to try out and possibly buy! Bit odd, but I declined and we parted ways.

Today, I decided to look her up on Instagram for some reason and saw photos of my living room and kitchen with the caption 'new furniture!' The hashtags were all related to the oils she was selling, with the bottles being in the picture too so it looked like some sort of ad? I've messaged her about this but she hasn't replied yet.

Is there something I can do to get these pictures taken down?

Get a mutual friend to put those links on her wall or whatever its called now that you are blocked on Fb. Isn’t there also a diagram showing very clearly why these things dont work - its like a pyramid () with one seller at the top and basically at the bottom there are more people than the world contains! Post that with the caption “You’re a moron”.

definitely report her to the MLM employer, ASA and perhaps even the police.

There's a great BBC podcast called The Missing Cryptoqueen. It tells the story of the victims, the few who make big money from MLMs and the people who set it all up. You can really get an understanding for how MLMs work from it.

I’d be honest. Send her a message (anywhere she hasn’t blocked you!) saying you enjoyed meeting up with her and are now hurt as you feel so used. Explain that if she’d asked you’d have been happy for her to use the photos, and politely suggest she is more honest with other friends so that she doesn’t alienate everyone.

The podcast about MLMs is called The Dream. They've just started a second season.

She is a right CF.
Im sure insta will take it down as she didn't have permission to use photos of your house.

Blimey! She sounds totally unhinged.

I have a good uni friend who has been sucked into an essential oils MLM scheme and she totally ruined our last uni get together with her continuous sales pitch. I couldn't believe someone so intelligent and usually together believed the crap she was spouting - she then told me about a friend who used the oils and a change in diet to 'cure 'the chronic incurable lifelong condition/disability I have.... that's when I lost it and called her out on the crap very publicly. It did not go down well, we are still in touch as it's close knit group but it's much shakier ground.

I had a similar experience with our painter and decorator. He was in to decorate hallway, staircase and 2 spare bedrooms so was here a few days. I then saw his posts on a local for sale page advertising his work, with pictures of my living room & bedroom which he did not decorate I just took it as a compliment (a bit creeped out he was nosing in my bedroom though)

she then told me about a friend who used the oils and a change in diet to 'cure 'the chronic incurable lifelong condition/disability I have

Wow this has completely crossed the line into being genuinely harmful. I wonder if there's some sort of 'script' or 'sales tips' they're following because I've been trawling through the Instagrams of random people selling these essential oils and some of the claims/recipes are ridiculous (in my opinion) but unfortunately not uncommon.

Yep that's the podcast I was referring to @VeryLittleOwl 'The Dream'

They talk about how hard it is to walk away due to the pressure from 'up the pyramid' but also the cognitive fallacy of 'sunk costs' (in short, you are basing your decision to 'keep going' based on what you have invested rather than the true value of what you have now). It's very powerful and pushes people to desperate levels.

Your friend is a cheeky fucker but as i said before, it's desperation. It's up to you how you deal with it, but she probably won't want to hear it.

Post the link so we can have a nosey! Jk! No seriously that’s well cheeky! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I thought the MLM thing had died down a bit. It seemed to peak a couple of years ago but I've not heard of or seen threads about MLM rubbish for a while. What a shame there are still bots out there.

Hate how these MLM promote fake lives to get people on board with buying over priced products - that would bug me more

I was going to say maybe she meant it like an ad to showcase new scents and the oils were “new furniture” and used your nice furniture as a backdrop.

But her response saying she was trying to compliment you just proves that she was trying to pass your new things off as her own.

Sorry OP, sounds like she went down the path of many who get involved with MLM then see their friends only as potential customers.

A hun bot using your (probably better then hers) house to promote a 'boss babe' lifestyle to people she can recruit which simply doesn't exist, I hate to say it but I would advise ghosting her in life, and reporting her 'marketing'

That’s her business she came to promote and it’s unfair to shame someone for trying to create a living. Essential oils are amazing. I feel there is so much hate on MLM. I don’t do them before anyone comes for me, but it really isn’t a big deal. Just be aware of the pros and cons. 9-5 isn’t for everyone. BUT it is weird to say your furniture is her new furniture. That’s a bit weird but it really isn’t that big of a deal really. Just don’t get in touch next time.

I've sold for 2 companies for over two years. Yes I take photos of the products but I try not to include my home in them.

As in don’t keep contact with her if you are not happy about it

Oh I'm sorry - that was horrible of her! Frikkin MLM types sometimes just use people as buying fodder.

I would kick this relationship to the kerb and never think of her again.

Sounds textbook MLM bot.
She’ll have all the other huns telling her you’re not supporting woman entrepreneurs. Sadly either unscrupulous people go into suck people I or they get the desperate people to make money and it’s all about fking it til you make it, I had a friend start a travel business one. Knew it instantly when she starting saying “sorry to all the people I haven’t replied to in messages to book a holiday, it’s been so busy”.

What a parasite.

@ahmadsmom2015 the cons vastly outweigh the pros in MLMs, because the opportunity cannot work as advertised. The products have to be overpriced so that everyone in the upline can get a slice. Recruiting is offered as a way to make money but it only works because new recruits buy lots of product for their own use and sell to friends and family in the early days. As such the whole thing functions like a pyramid scheme, even if they're not yet illegal pyramid schemes.

Saying "9-5 isn't for everyone" is a subtle version of the MLM slur on paid employment (J-O-Bs). Most jobs have huge advantages over MLMs in that they don't require employees to invest their own money before they can get paid themsleves. But in any case, MLMs are not the only way to earn with flexible hours; they're just the worst way. 99% will make less than minimum wage.

I feel there is so much hate on MLM.

For very good reason. >95% of people will never make money, or even lose money. Bots are at best dodgy, at worst true con artists.

That’s her business she came to promote and it’s unfair to shame someone for trying to create a living.

It's not "her" business. She is a glorified customer, an unpaid sales rep. She has no influence on the branding, the packaging, the product range, the marketing strategy, etc.

BINGO!

I'm a practising lawyer, there is no criminal law preventing people from taking photographs in someone else's house (unless they've broken in as jollyroger said).

There is no freestanding right to privacy (see this article for example www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/oct/17/lords.prisonsandprobation). If there is a separate cause of action then the law must be interpreted compatibly with the parties' rights under the Human Rights Act, which includes the right to private and family life.

So if the OP were to sue MLM CF for the tort of breach of confidence, she could raise the issue of privacy under Article 8, but she doesn't have a freestanding cause under Article 8.

The law on privacy is incredibly complicated but breach of privacy alone is not a criminal offence.