The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has undertaken an unannounced search of two properties in County Donegal as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged pyramid promotional scheme by a multi-level marketing company in the health and wellness sector.<\/p>\n
Pyramid promotional schemes are marketing and investment frauds in which an individual is offered an opportunity to market a particular product. However, the profit is gained not by the sale of a product, but by the recruitment of others into the scheme.<\/p>\n
Under Section 65 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, it is illegal to establish, operate, promote or knowingly take part in a pyramid promotional scheme. If convicted, an operator, promoter or participant in a pyramid scheme could be liable to a fine of up to \u20ac150,000 or up to five years\u2019 imprisonment, or both.<\/p>\n
The CCPC has the power, under its legislation, to carry out unannounced searches of business premises and private homes, on foot of a search warrant issued by the District Court. The aim of a search is to uncover evidence relating to an investigation being carried out by the CCPC.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, 2 November 2021, two properties were searched under warrant by officers from the CCPC. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), who are separately investigating offences in relation to food safety labelling, had also secured a search warrant to inspect one of these properties. The CCPC and FSAI were supported by members of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na as well as the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.<\/p>\n
As this is an ongoing investigation no further information is available at this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has undertaken an unannounced search of two properties in County Donegal as part of an ongoing investigation …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n