One day I was on Indeed, urgently looking for a job that paid well and I could grow a career with. There was a company I came across called “Wolf Venture.” Little did I know they were trying to pull a Wolf of Wall Street (they epically failed, lol).

The way the interview process went was that I spoke with the manager. Then the manager split all of the interviewees in groups assigned with one of the “leaders.” The leader I was put with interviewed me along with three other people. These people were older and seemingly wiser; I was sure he wouldn’t pick me. To my surprise, he picked me. Later on, he admitted to me that it was because I was super pretty.

The Unprofessionalism

When I first stepped into the office, all the men were dressed very professionally and clean cut, unlike their behavior. They had loud music playing, they were dancing, and they were making inappropriate jokes during training. All the leaders, who were all men, were overly touchy with me. My leader specifically admitted to having a crush on me and would open up to me about all the girls he cheated on his girlfriend with.

The second week, my friend Lolo (who I met at this company and who began on the same day as me) and I were approved to go on a trip to New Orleans. We went with my leader, another leader, and one of his trainees. We stayed at an Airbnb, where Lolo and I shared a room. Her and I bonded over how we were both struggling, contemplated the stability of this company together, and became close.

The air was rundown, and it was in a creepy area. Lolo came from a very religious background and felt uneasy in the town of Voodoo. A homeless lady who was on drugs came up to her to harass on the streets at one point. The guys had to step in front of us to protect us. While standing behind them, I talked to Lolo to provide her comfort.

Shortly after the trip, Lolo and I discovered that the other leader who went with us had a record. We were angry once we realized we were staying in an air bnb with someone who had 38 offenses on his record. After reading that, my other friend and I ran a background check on him, which is how we found more specific details. It was scary.

The Scam

This is how we found out this company was a scam: During the interviews, I was told that we would get paid $500 a week in addition to commissions. I know I didn’t inaccurately remember this statement or misinterpret it because it was not only said word for word, but everyone else who joined the company after me said they were told the same thing. On my first day, he even said and I quote, “If you don’t make as many sales as you had hoped, I’m not just going to leave you in the dust, I’ll still pay you $500.” He proceeded to say that purely relying on that would be a slap in the face to him because we’re not bringing in money for him in return (half of our commissions went to him), and the $500 would be coming out of his own wallet. In my third week, I was given different information from a leader as opposed to what the manager had provided everyone at their interviews. This was that we only get $500 if we don’t exceed that amount already with our commissions. And even then, we had to make at least two sales to get that $500; otherwise, we would only get the commission. Right, that doesn’t make sense. There was a lot of jumping around. Luckily for me, I made seven sales in my first week, but that’s beside the point. Then, it wasn’t until after training that I was told that I had to start making four sales a week to get $500 IF I didn’t exceed $500 already.

The Sales

If you’re wondering what these “sales” were, they were influencing people to give us their credit card information using a website to put towards a charity. We would sign people up for payment plans; there was no one time payment option. I strongly believe that the money wasn’t actually going to the charity, and if it was, it was only 2%. We were trained to not only provide information to our clientele but also to learn how to emotionally manipulate. We had a strict presentation that came all the way down to our pitch, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. For example, whenever we talk about the charity and all the things it does to combat world hunger, we express excitement. Then, we would talk about the struggles and rate at which people were starving to death in a serious tone, as if we were scolding the person right in front of us—as if they should be doing more to help. Then, we would reassure them that there’s a way to help while jumping back into excitement. This is when we calmly bring up the payment options while leaning on one foot with our eyes half closed. Getting too excited about money displays desperation, while calmness will build the other person’s trust without them even realizing it. When going over the payment plans, it was important to stay serious, know your sh*t, and remain calm. When I say know your sh*t, I mean to know the different payment plan options and different options you can put your money towards. You could put it towards goat milk, chicken eggs, cow milk, or honey. You could provide your choice of animal to a starving family.

The Downfall

In the office, flies were dropping left and right, including myself. Everyone realized this was a scam and a waste of time. The big boss would cuss at us as a way of being stern or critical, which was super unprofessional. It’s easier said than done to get people to hand us their credit card information and to sign them up for ongoing plans, especially in this economy. But if we didn’t get enough people to, it was our fault, regardless of how hard we tried. The company took place in different states using different names chosen by the managers of each of the offices. And, their were higher-ups. I had attended Zoom meetings with all of them, and let’s just say their system was run by a bunch of narcissists. I was tired of being lied to constantly, so I quit. Shortly after I quit, other leaders even started to quit. The manager had to have at least five leaders to maintain a business. But even the small number of leaders he did have were dropping like flies. It went from six to about three. Then, the one field location we had at the mall, which was a booth with the charity’s name on it, was taken down. I noticed because I went shopping there a couple weeks after quitting. What I believe happened was that everyone was struggling to make commissions because whenever anyone found a spot to pitch at, they would get kicked out. It was hard to secure a spot to pitch at. This was because the boss failed to get in contact with different stores and property managers. He just sent everyone on their way with nothing organized. Therefore, a lack of income was coming in, so the one spot that was secured and had a lease (the booth set up at the mall) paid for by the boss got harder for him to even afford. His lease had to be broken months before it ended. I know the ins and outs because I got close to one of his leaders, who had moved to Texas from Chicago with the boss once the boss had built a big enough team to open his own office. Through that grapevine, I learned how long that lease originally was. A couple weeks later, that same leader told me that the business was shutting down and described the boss as someone who had failed. He said that the boss could have done more to stay organized and maintain loyalty with his employees. If he had provided us with security by organizing setups for us to have more opportunity to actually make money, we would have been more likely to stay loyal and stick with the company. Instead, he let it all crumble. However, that’s what he gets for scamming everyone, and leaving people with an $80 paycheck at times.