iJango on NBC Chicago

  • iJango continues to generate buzz and stir controversy - NBC Chicago posted a news piece on the company on September 25, 2009:

    Ijango Comes to Town With Critics Close Behind Browser beware.

    That's the message the Better Business Bureau wants to spread about Ijango, a self-described "online community" which is recruiting marketers in face-to-face sessions across the country.

    In pitch sessions, Ijango "directors" promise potential members that if they pay $149 to sign up and $20 a month thereafter, they'll make money when people they recruit search and shop online. The BBB says Ijango's plan has "red flags" and could potentially be a pyramid scheme, since its revenues may rely mostly on signups of new members.

    Since Ijango launched in August, the Bureau has received 3,400 inquiries about the company. It gives Ijango an "F" rating. And Internet critics have lobbed savage reviews of its business. Here's what company cofounder Steve Smith told us about those bad notices on the Internet: "Mainly it's just been one guy named clicksniper and he's made an awful lot of money developing an awful lot of traffic from an awful lot of people who like hearing news that's not as good of news as you might like to hear."

    Smith and other Ijango representatives have strongly disputed the Bureau's claims.