Rune Fjortoft, operating from Norway, launched InstantCashMatrix after posing rhetorical questions about common MLM failures. The company implies it avoids these pitfalls, but its structure and compensation plan suggest otherwise. This review examines the InstantCashMatrix opportunity.
InstantCashMatrix names Rune Fjortoft, based in Norway, as its administrator. Fjortoft calls himself an "International Top Marketer." His past activities include promoting affiliate programs and multi-level marketing ventures such as Traffic Buddha, Just Been Paid, and FastCashLevels. He also runs MLMProNews.com, a site used to market these programs. InstantCashMatrix appears to be his attempt to launch his own company.
InstantCashMatrix promotes its product line as "a total promotion and marketing powerhouse." In practice, it functions as an internal advertising network. No products are available for retail purchase. Members joining the company can submit three text and three banner advertisements. These advertisements then rotate within the InstantCashMatrix network, displayed to other members.
InstantCashMatrix uses a 3x7 forced matrix, accommodating up to 3,279 members. Each position branches into three additional levels, extending seven levels deep. The company states it pays $21 on the first level and "up to $7671 monthly" in total commissions. The first level holds three members, meaning $7 per member monthly. The remaining $7651 across 3,276 members averages $2.33 per member each month. This indicates commission payouts are not linear, with varying amounts paid per filled position on different matrix levels.
Joining InstantCashMatrix costs $19. This monthly fee is required to participate in the program and earn commissions from the matrix.
InstantCashMatrix offers no retail products. It pays commissions using membership and monthly subscription fees collected from other participants. This structure defines it as a pyramid scheme, where money shuffles between members. On his MLMProNews.com website, Fjortoft previously commented on the prevalence of scams: "I just heard that another so called hot program just turned out to be a scam... It's just getting worse and worse and it's more and more difficult to know which opportunities are the real deal and which that is just people out to take your money." He also wrote, "Some are not intentionally out to take your money, but just incapable of running a program the right way. These are the amateurs posing as professionals." Fjortoft's own InstantCashMatrix operates as a recruitment-based scheme, directly contradicting his earlier warnings about such programs.