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?

@BunnytheBlueWhale MLM stands for multilevel marketing, which is essentially a pyramid scheme recruiting people by telling them they are going to be selling product but all money is made from recruiting others by lying about the financial gain and lifestyle it will provide and by persuading those recruits to buy product. Bonuses are paid on purchases made rather than sales to those outside the scheme.

I think what she has done is actually illegal. You could report at your local station.

Thanks @YouokHun

Maybe her house is rubbish. That's why she did it. X

Apart from all the CF'ery, who else wants to know the Instagram handle so we can all take a peek?

MOM sellers are, as much as anything, victims of the corporations. Ime those hooked in are relatively vulnerable.

I wonder if there's some sort of 'script' or 'sales tips' they're following

A friend of a friend got involved in one of these a few years ago, and kept begging my friend to host a night in her house that we'd go along to.

So 3 of us went along just to stop her pestering my friend to organise it!

She had a leader there who was training her on how to do the pitch.

The leader had the most unfortunate set of relatives any one family could have.

One had terrible psoriasis.
Another asthma.
Another eczema.
Another had bad breath.
Excessive perspiration.
Irritable bowel.
Arthritis.

I'm sure there were others. But I can't remember them all. But luckily, all her family members were living full, healthy lives with no symptoms all thanks to Aloe Vera.

I actually just looked up doterra because I hadn't heard about the latest mlm... I can't believe your "friend" tried to use your new home to fool others into joining this bs mlm!

I'm horrified to say the least!

I'm actually have qualifications in clinical aromatherapy (I don't use it), but I studied everything about essential oils, along with their effects, dosage, contraindications etc. For them to be promoting the ingestion of what is technically a poison is unbelievable! They clearly have absolutely no training, and to be telling people that these oils are safe for little ones, "if diluted well" and then putting the example of what I would consider to be a rather concentrated dose is horrendous, with the cheek to say "look out for a reaction and discontinue if affected"...

And they've labeled bottles with ridiculous names as a "blend" but don't tell you what is in it? OMG allergies are a serious factor that should be taken into account!

For anybody who is wondering, the "clinical aromatherapy" was a course designed so I could use essential oils and specific massage techniques on patients who had cancer and other life limiting or terminal illnesses and be covered by insurance.
(the insurance for massage therapists/beauty therapists etc does not cover anybody who is under a doctors care for these conditions.)

Unbelievable!

Could you not have some fun pretending to be her? Maybe post another picture of your table with a bottle of oil from Tesco and say 'after much product testing I can confirm that this is the best all round option.' 🤭

That's hilariously outrageous! Call her out and report her to her 'one tier higher' boss. CF!

Could you not have some fun pretending to be her? Maybe post another picture of your table with a bottle of oil from Tesco

Castrol GTX if they still do it! .

Cured my sons psoriasis - no need for a dermatologist. Chip fat n car oil... sorted!

Very very creepy.
Complain to her and to the company.
Then block her and have nothing more to do with her.
This is not a "friendship", this is fraud.

@OhDear2200 yes, Tropic Skincare is MLM, it’s the one backed by Alan Sugar. On mlmtruth.org there is a master list of MLMs so you can check the names of different companies. A lot come and go quickly, some survive for years fleecing people. Tropic is an excellent way to lose money.

If she's still your friend on FB you could send her some of the links that others have posted above, the Ellebeau blog and so on. You never know, she might actually take a look and have a think about where the MLM scams are taking her. Not as much fun as righteous revenge but at least you'd be trying to help her for old times' sake

Thanks @YouokHun makes me angry as the people I know who do it are clearly in a bit of a bind. Don’t want to upset friends but are losing money: hence the crazy behaviour as demonstrated by the OPs ‘friend’.

@thejollyroger
Are you the CF “friend” by any chance?

She’s nuts!!!

thejollyroger

There is no law that says you can’t take a photo inside someone’s home but it is how the photo is used where the legal territory kicks in.

If you use it to pass the image off as your own property in order to gain sales, other people to buy into the marketing of products or advertising in any form without the home owners consent then you are really leaving yourself open being sued.