Jeffrey Alan Long, a figure known in multi-level marketing circles as Jeff Long, launched Abundance Network in 2019 as a phone-based gifting scheme. The operation, tied to Long's Autom8tion LLC, promised participants daily earnings of $100 to $500 or more by simply sharing a phone number. This venture followed a string of failed pyramid schemes previously associated with Long.
Autom8tion LLC, registered in Utah, holds the stated right to terminate user accounts or reassign downlines without prior notice. The company's public website, at the time of its initial operation, offered only a login form, providing no details about its structure or offerings. Details about the scheme's terms and conditions were found in unlinked documents.
Long's history in pyramid and recruitment schemes dates back to at least 2011. He first appeared with AutoXTen, a recruitment model that collapsed within months. He then moved to SMS Dailies, which also failed quickly. In late 2015, Long introduced Get Paid Social, a Facebook spam pyramid that endured into 2016. That was followed by 1 Online Business in mid-2017, which combined a cycler Ponzi scheme with social media spam. Alexa traffic data from the period showed a rapid rise in activity, then a steep decline into 2018.
April 2018 saw the launch of Luvv, another pyramid scheme, which dissolved quietly a few months later. Earlier in 2019, Long initiated NewU Financial, a gifting scheme that promised a 200% return on investment. NewU Financial quickly failed, prompting the creation of Abundance Network.
Abundance Network lacked any retail products or services. Its sole offering was an affiliate membership, costing $100. New participants "gifted" this amount to existing members. The compensation plan operated on a "2-up" model, tracked through unilevel teams. In this structure, the recruiter sits at the top, with directly recruited individuals on level 1, their recruits on level 2, and so on, theoretically extending infinitely downwards.
Upon joining Abundance Network, a new member sent $100 to an upline member. They then received a phone number to share, tasked with recruiting others. The payment sequence for new recruits followed a specific pattern. The first recruit's $100 went to the new member. The second recruit's $100 passed up to the new member's recruiter. The third recruit's $100 stayed with the new member. The fourth recruit's $100 again passed upline. From the fifth recruit onward, the new member kept all subsequent $100 payments.
Because each recruit also passed up their second and fourth payments, and their recruits followed the same rule, "passed-up gifts" could theoretically trickle from infinite levels below the initial recruiter. This structure allowed for the potential collection of funds from individuals the initial recruiter had never directly contacted. The deeper a participant's unilevel team grew, the more they might collect.
Instead of a traditional website, Abundance Network affiliates received a specific phone number. They were instructed to disseminate this number widely. When prospective recruits called the number, they heard a recorded message from Jeff Long. The message stated, "Hi there. Well thanks for calling to learn how you can realistically be earning anywhere from $100 to $500 or more per day, working from home by simply sharing a phone number with others... You join us for a small one-time fee, we give you a phone number, you share that phone number with others, and when they call in... you have the potential to being paid $100."
Payments were processed directly between participants through various platforms, including Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, Stripe, and Bitcoin, or "any other payment method you choose."
Gifting schemes, by their nature, guarantee that most participants will lose money. This financial reality makes Long's income claims a direct violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The FTC has previously taken enforcement actions against similar schemes, such as MOBE and Digital Altitude, specifically citing false income representations and pyramid structures. Both MOBE and Digital Altitude were shut down by the FTC for operating as illegal pyramid schemes that promised substantial income to consumers who paid thousands of dollars to join, but ultimately lost most of their money.
Gifting schemes are legally classified as pyramid schemes because they lack genuine retail sales. Instead, commissions are entirely funded by the recruitment of new participants. The primary distinction is that participants send funds directly to each other, rather than routing money through a central company. Despite this operational difference, the economic outcome for participants remains identical to that of a traditional pyramid scheme.
Jeff Long and the earliest recruiters in Abundance Network stood to collect the vast majority of funds. The overwhelming majority of other participants would inevitably lose their initial $100 investment, effectively bankrolling the earnings of those at the top. Abundance Network operates illegally in Utah, where Long's Autom8tion LLC is registered, and across all other U.S. states.
Service providers terminated their contracts with Abundance Network on July 8, 2019, citing concerns about its pyramid scheme structure. Jeff Long announced on August 6, 2019, that Abundance Network would relaunch with a new compensation plan. Consumers who believe they have been defrauded by a pyramid scheme can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov/complaint.