Chain Referral Schemes

Another variation of consumer fraud where mail and wire fraud statutes can come into play is referred to as a chain referral scheme, where the price advertised is based upon the completion of several successful referrals to be completed by the purchaser after buying. Often the difficulty here is that no misrepresentation was ever made, but instead the purchaser simply failed to read the fine print or understand what they were signing up for. Such schemes are often held to be generally inherently fraudulent, although arguably better remedied with a civil claim.