Watch Out for Wellness Scams Like This

The health and wellness industry is booming, and unfortunately, so are the scams.

From overpriced supplements to manipulative multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes, the wellness world has become a magnet for misleading products, predatory business models, and full-blown wellness scams. While there’s a genuine need for tools that support better health, it’s become increasingly hard to tell what’s evidence-based versus what’s just cleverly marketed bullshit.

As a health behavior coach who’s worked with countless people recovering from diet culture, MLM entanglements, and toxic wellness practices, I want you to feel confident making choices that support your well-being… not someone else’s sales quota.

Let’s break down how to spot a wellness scam before it messes with your health, wallet, or self-worth.

Table of Contents

The Health and Wellness Industry Isn’t Always Well

Let’s get one thing straight: wellness isn’t something you buy in a box, blend into a shake, or hustle for in a group chat. The wellness industry is booming and while that could be great news, it’s also crawling with bullshit. From essential oils to detox teas to “biohacking” protocols, there’s a shiny product (and persuasive sales pitch) for every insecurity.

Lurking behind a lot of those wellness practices are multi-level marketing companies (MLMs) that sell more than products. They sell a dream. Companies like Beachbody (now BODi), Arbonne, Plexus, Modere, and Herbalife package pseudoscience as empowerment and recruit everyday people to distribute their wares under the guise of coaching, community, or entrepreneurship. These are some of the most pervasive wellness scams in the industry, dressed up in pastel branding and promises of empowerment.

Here’s how it works: distributors are incentivized not just to sell products, but to recruit others to sell under them creating a structure where the top profits most and the vast majority lose money. The product is often secondary. The real goal is to build a downline. And while this article focuses on the wellness flavor of MLMs, the model spans everything from essential oils and “clean” skincare to leggings, nail stickers, and even cryptocurrency.

The scam isn't in the category of products. It's the business structure.

That said, the health and wellness MLM companies are uniquely insidious. Because on top of the financial exploitation, social strain, and emotional manipulation baked into the model, there’s also a very real risk of physical harm. When unqualified distributors start handing out supplement protocols or "gut reset" plans like they’re licensed professionals, it’s not just irresponsible, it’s dangerous.

These MLM companies churn out all kinds of so-called wellness fixes: weight loss shakes, detox kits, hormone-balancing pills, skincare potions, and generic lifestyle plans. Distributors present themselves as health experts, often with zero training, using copy and paste social media content to push the idea that their product (or team membership) is the key to feeling better.

But wellness isn’t just about what you eat or how you move, it’s about your whole well-being: physical, mental, financial, and social. MLMs, no matter the product — whether it’s protein shakes or tote bags — have a way of undermining all of it. They isolate people from support systems, create financial strain, and chip away at self-trust. Wellness scams like these disguise harm in the language of health and empowerment, it becomes even harder to spot, and even easier to internalize.

The Hidden Cost of Network Marketing on Your Well-Being

MLM companies, regardless of their product category can completely derail your finances, mental health, and sense of self. Behind the shiny branding and girlboss energy lies a business structure built to exploit.

Originally dubbed “pyramid selling”, the multi-level marketing structure was so obviously predatory that it needed a rebrand. Now you’ll hear terms like network marketing, social selling, or direct sales, all meant to obscure the fact that the model itself still operates to benefit those at the top while draining time, money, and energy from the vast majority below.

Here’s the deal: MLMs rely on constant recruitment. Products are often a smokescreen. The real money (for the few who make it) comes from building a downline of other sellers, each pressured to buy and push more products. The FTC reports that 99% of participants lose money, with many ending up in debt.

But the damage isn’t just financial.

MLMs often use coercive control tactics that mirror those found in high-control groups like cults:

• Love bombing: New recruits are showered with praise, inclusion, and motivational messaging. You’re told you’re a “boss babe,” part of a sisterhood, a visionary.

• Information control: Dissent is shut down quickly. Anyone asking hard questions is labeled “negative” or “not committed enough.” You’re encouraged to ignore “haters” (aka critics, experts, and your concerned family).

• Guilt and shame cycles: Can’t make sales? Not hitting your goals? That’s framed as your personal failure. “You just need to believe in yourself more.” Translation: hustle harder, spend more, blame yourself.

• Isolation: Relationships can strain or break under the constant pressure to recruit or sell. You’re told to distance yourself from anyone who “doesn’t support your dreams.”

• Toxic positivity: No matter how deep the financial losses or personal burnout, you're expected to smile, stay grateful, and post your #wellnessjourney.

And when it inevitably starts to unravel, people are often left with:

• Credit card debt from buying inventory or “qualifying” for bonuses

• Fractured relationships due to relentless recruitment efforts

• Mental exhaustion from trying to maintain a happy facade while struggling privately

• Crushed confidence after being gaslit into believing failure was their fault

But financial loss and emotional burnout are only part of the damage. When the MLM companies in question are selling health, wellness practices, or nutrition products, the fallout can extend into your body… sometimes in ways that are harder to see right away.

From “Gut Resets” to Weight Loss Kits: The Illusion of “Wellness” in MLM Companies

MLM “wellness” products are often marketed as cutting-edge solutions to everyday health concerns — weight loss, gut health, hormonal balance, energy — but the reality is far less glamorous (and far more dangerous).

Let’s start with the ingredients. Many of these products contain proprietary blends, a convenient label loophole that hides the actual dosages of each component. That means you have no idea how much of any active ingredient you're consuming, or whether it’s even present in a meaningful amount.

Take Plexus Slim, aka the “Pink Drink.” It’s sold as a blood sugar balancer and weight loss aid thanks to ingredients like chromium and green coffee extract. But the evidence supporting these claims is weak, inconsistent, and often funded by the supplement industry itself.

Arbonne’s 30 Days to Healthy Living promises to “detox” your body and reset your system. Spoiler: your liver and kidneys already do that — 24/7 — for free. There’s zero reputable clinical evidence showing that their powders or pills enhance detoxification in any measurable way.

And Herbalife? This multi-level marketing heavyweight has faced multiple lawsuits, including some involving serious liver damage in international markets. Yet its distributors still confidently recommend their shake plans for everything from weight loss to IBS to fatigue, without any regulation or oversight.

Which brings us to a crucial point: MLM companies are operating in a regulatory black hole.

The FDA doesn’t approve dietary supplements before they hit the market. That means MLM companies don’t have to prove their products are effective, or even safe, before selling them. As long as they avoid direct disease claims (like “cures cancer” or “treats diabetes”), they can get away with vague language like:

• “Supports gut health”

• “Promotes energy”

• “Balances hormones”

These phrases may sound sciencey, but they’re often meaningless marketing buzzwords with no clinical backing. Many MLMs exploit this lack of oversight and that puts you, the consumer, at risk. These schemes also contribute to broader health challenges in society by spreading misinformation, eroding public trust, and increasing risks to individual health and safety.

If you're considering a supplement, look for third-party certifications like NSF or USP, check for FDA warning letters or class-action lawsuits, and talk to a credentialed provider, not distributors whose only qualification is an upline and a Canva template.

But MLM “wellness” doesn’t stop at pseudoscience, it wraps itself in diet culture, too.

MLM companies are experts at rebranding restriction as empowerment. “Gut resets,” “hormone balancing protocols,” “clean eating challenges.” They all sound wholesome, but often rely on:

• Severely low-calorie diets

• Elimination of entire food groups

• Meal replacements instead of meals

• Language that moralizes food (“clean,” “toxic,” “cheat”)

This isn’t holistic health. This is disordered eating in disguise, and it’s one of the most dangerous aspects of modern wellness scams, where restriction is repackaged as “balance.” When programs promote fear around food, shame over appetite, or the idea that your body must constantly be “cleansed” or “fixed,” they undermine real health.

The result? Binge-restrict cycles, orthorexia, metabolic disruption, and deep mistrust of your body’s cues, all while MLM distributors cheer you on with toxic positivity and transformation photos.

Real wellness is not rooted in fear, control, or scarcity. It’s built on informed choices, flexible eating, joyful movement, and body respect. It’s personal, evolving, and never one-size-fits-all.

How to Spot Multi-Level Marketing Wellness Scams

Wellness does not come in a supplement packet, a color-coded cleanse, or a recruit-to-earn business model; wellness scams do. But if you’ve been targeted by MLM distributors cosplaying as health coaches, it’s completely understandable if you’re feeling confused, skeptical, or even ashamed. MLM companies are masters at selling the fantasy of energy, balance, purpose, and a six-figure income, all wrapped in curated Instagram posts and “boss babe” vibes.

And what makes it even harder to spot? They often use people we know and trust — our friends, siblings, coworkers — as the messengers. When the pitch comes from someone you love, it feels less like marketing and more like a personal invitation to belong.

MLM wellness isn’t real wellness. It’s a predatory business model dressed up as a lifestyle brand, and this structure is characteristic of a pyramid scheme, which relies on constant recruitment rather than genuine product sales. And for many people, it doesn’t just fall short of promoting health, it actively undermines it.

Because it’s not just that MLMs fail to deliver on their promises. It’s that they are the antithesis of wellness by eroding at the very foundations that support true well-being: financial security, mental clarity, social connection, physical safety, and trust in your own sense of what’s real.

If that’s you? You’re far from alone. One in 13 American adults has been involved in a multi-level marketing scheme at some point, and about half have been recruited by someone they know. It’s everywhere: baked into birthday messages, small talk at school pickup, and “just checking in” DMs.

So how can you protect yourself going forward? Here are a few red flags to watch for when navigating health and wellness spaces:

How to Spot a Wellness Scam

• The seller isn’t qualified. If the person promoting the product isn’t a licensed or credentialed health provider, think twice. Health and wellness advice without proper training is at best incomplete, and at worst, harmful.

• You’re promised transformation, fast. Whether it’s weight loss, “balanced hormones,” or financial freedom, MLM wellness loves to sell overnight success. Real health doesn’t come in 30-day resets or income guarantees.

• The product relies on vague claims. Phrases like “supports metabolism,” “detoxes your body,” or “boosts gut health” sound nice but they’re rarely backed by clinical research and often mean nothing without specifics.

• Recruitment is prioritized over results. If you’re being nudged to join a “team,” buy a starter kit, or build a business before you’ve even tried the product, that’s a giant red flag.

• Criticism is discouraged. If you're told that questions mean you're "not coachable" or that you should “ignore the haters,” it’s not a healthy space. It's a high-control sales cult.

• You feel more dependent, not more empowered. Any health and wellness plan that makes you feel like you can’t trust your body without a product, a protocol, or a paycheck is not wellness, it’s manipulation.

Reclaiming Real Wellness: What Health Looks Like Without MLMs

The health and wellness industry should be about helping people thrive. Instead it’s pushing overpriced powders, recruiting schemes, or toxic positivity disguised as self-care.

If you’ve been burned by MLM wellness, you are not alone. You were targeted for being hopeful, for wanting to feel better, for wanting to help others. 

Wellness isn’t something you hustle for.  Wellness is something you live, feel, and define on your own terms.

You deserve care that’s grounded in evidence, not exploitation. You deserve health that’s defined by you, not someone else’s commission structure.

And if you're ready to reclaim that? You're in the right place.