Zinzino - a scam or a scheme?


Zinzino itself appears to be somewhat legitimate firm offering overpriced products via MLM. However the business relies heavily on the pyramid scheme structure built by Zinzino's partners.

The business has been running in Finland since about 2010 - probably a year or two before that but after 2010 it started sort of booming. They went nuts recruiting people with false promises of easy and massive incomes. The top of the Finnish pyramid made its best to give the impression that anyone could achieve those passive incomes with Zinzino.

However after years have passed it has become clear that Zinzino is not a way to a glamorous life. It turns out that the independent partners are struggling to make any money at all with this scheme.



Let's have a look at some statistics:

Zinzino's 2014 annual report reveals that in 2014 there was 1.701 new partners recruited. In the previous year (2013) 1.661 new partners were recruited. That sums up to 3.362 partners in just two years. Great isn't it? Despite the fat numbers of new partners there was only about 1.000 active partners left in 2015. - This headcount includes also the partners who were already members before 2013! The numbers tell us that nearly all of the new recruits quit Zinzino very soon after getting involved.


Sources:
Zinzino's annual reports.
The information about 1.000 active partners in 2015 can be found in this Zinzino's Q&A page (it's in Finnish):
https://zinzinofaktaa.com/2015/12/17/zinzino-kysymyksia-ja-vastauksia-2/



Zinzino under preliminary investigation by the Finnish police

Zinzino has been under preliminary investigation by the Finnish police since the end of 2013. So far they have not concluded the investigation and it's unclear whether there will be any criminal charges prosecuted or not.

I don't remember seeing any other country having their police forces investigating Zinzino. However I'd presume that Zinzino has used similar kind of measures as in Finland to lure people into it.



The early days, the present and the future

When Zinzino started it was all about coffee and espresso machines. They were to conquer the markets with their overpriced coffee and coffee machines. However there was only a limited market for those overpriced products and the Finnish population has only a limited number of suckers to be fooled.

After two or three years passed with the coffee and espresso machines they had to add a totally new product line to prevent the pyramid from collapsing. That's when health related oils were introduced.

In addition they offer dried blood spot analysis to their customers so that anyone could see how Zinzino's oil would benefit their health. However consumers taking their own blood samples and sending them via post doesn't sound a way to handle delicate medical samples. It's also controversial whether this kind of dry blood testing would give any reliable results of fatty acids.



Don't slaughter a cow that can be milked


In the early days of Zinzino there was a lot of videos of pyramid's top people partying and giving their false promises. Nowadays it's much calmer. It's like they have gone under ground. Some of the most visible characters in the crazy years are maybe too embarrassed to make any Zinzino appearances anymore. Well, it's no wonder after they could not even fulfil the promises they had made to themselves.

Of course the ones Zinzino still benefits, "the top leaders", continue promoting it. You know there are still about 1000 active partners to exploit. Don't slaughter a cow that can be milked, like we say here in Finland.

After years of bad media the recruiting business doesn't feed the pyramid like it used to. The main theme of their marketing is now the "education" they give to the Zinzino partners. Organising events is a side business for the top leaders bringing some food to their table. The events also strengthen the faith of the true believers giving them a sort of religious experience.

Also the recruiting business has changed. They are not promising easy and fat stacks of cash to anyone anymore. Now it's more like "a nice extra 100 euros to a single mother per month". "And if you really put your mind into it and work hard you can have up to 4000 euros per month".


The future

I think that Zinzino will just fade away here in Finland unless they come up with another ground breaking new product. Although Zinzino Finland might be closing to its end but elsewhere Zinzino is reaching to new territories. They are aiming to the U.S.A., Canada and also Germany.

The Finnish police investigation has dragged so long that I don't see anything coming up from it. The most likely scenario is that "the top leaders" will be involved in another scheme sooner or later. It so happens that dairy cows are usually slaughtered after their fifth year.



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