American get-rich-guru, Robert G Allen, travels the world claiming that he is “under deadline to create a thousand millionaires”. It’s a neat trick that has raked in millions for the man who peddles his methods at seminars and over the Internet.
Allen who calls himself ‘America’s Number One Millionaire Maker’ boasts that he “can’t pass up a challenge.” Wherever he goes, Allen brags that he has been challenged many times and has always proved the sceptics wrong.
But in Sydney Australia this week Robert G Allen was exposed as a con man.
Allen arrived in Australia claiming that he wanted “to create a thousand millionaires down under”. All Aussies had to do was pay Allen $5,000 each to discover his “secrets”.
In America, Allen is known for pocketing millions of dollars from consumers with his “challenge” stunts. As a former Allen colleague said last week, “Robert G Allen flies in, sucks as much money as he can from a room of hopefuls and flies out again.”
But in Australia, things didn’t go quite as Allen hoped. His challenge stunt unravelled when he was confronted with a simple challenge. Australian property commentator, Neil Jenman offered Allen a million dollars if Allen could create just 10 millionaires.
To a man who claims to have created thousands of millionaires, it should have been easy. Allen could quickly pick up a million dollars. After all, he simply had to achieve one per cent of what he claimed he could achieve – just 10 millionaires instead of a thousand.
But Allen did not respond.
And so Jenman, accompanied by a crew from a national TV program, confronted Allen as he stepped from an elevator. Holding up a certified bank cheque for a million dollars, Jenman told Allen, “If you can create just ten millionaires, I will give you this million dollars.”
Lashing out at the TV camera, Allen tried desperately to dodge the challenge and the questions being fired at him.
His stated reason for refusing to accept the challenge was that he didn’t like Neil Jenman because, among other things, Jenman was “a negative person”.
When it comes to Robert G Allen, Jenman admits to being negative. “The man is a liar,” said Jenman, “I think it is cowardly to prey on trusting and naïve consumers. We do not want Robert G Allen peddling his snake-oil in our country.”
This week, two Australian federal regulatory authorities took action against Allen for making misleading and deceptive claims. If he does not abide by our consumer protection laws, “he could wind up behind bars,” said a television reporter.
Television viewers across Australia have now seen what happens when a guru’s fake challenge is faced with a real challenge. The guru runs for cover.
Next week Robert G Allen will be luring consumers in Singapore.
