has come forward and branded the operation a scam.

The Royal Gazette in June published articles alerting the public to The Richer Life Programme and warned that Government was planning a crackdown on pyramid and multi-level marketing programmes.

The woman, who requested anonymity, has told The Royal Gazette that since she joined the programme six months ago, she has not made a single cent.

"I just want to warn other Bermudians who may be looking for investment opportunities, not to put any of their money in this programme,'' she said.

"Since I joined back in June I have not made a single dollar.'' Mr. Ernst has maintained that the operation is not a pyramid scheme. His programme sees distributors pay up to $2,500 for a set of 24 audio cassettes and a book on his "Proven Principles of Prosperity''.

The distributors are then sent ads to place and postcards to mail.

Each distributor is issued a personal ID number which is included in their ad which respondents to the ads will quote in order to place their order and become a distributor themselves.

But the distributor who came forward said the scheme lacks a tracking system and any support for those who get involved. "I placed an ad in the paper every day for three months,'' she said, "but I have no way of tracking whether anyone called and used my number.'' Alleging that the operators of The Richer Life Programme may be funnelling all the proceeds to only a few individuals locally, the woman explained that she felt the scheme drew people in with testimonials of locals who have benefited.

Frequently Bermudians who have expressed an interest in signing up have been advised to talk to Delores Thomas, Francis Jeffers and others who claim to have made lots of money in the programme.

But the disenchanted distributor charged that the company would not give her the names of anyone who had joined the programme more recently.

"I called, I left e-mail messages, numerous voice mail messages and only twice did I speak with an actual representative,'' she said. "I asked him to give me names of people who were newly in the programme, maybe a month or three months, but he didn't and he has not returned any of my attempts to contact him since.''