Robert Mfune Saga Explained Legally: The Dangers of Deceptive Marketing

This article was written by Tal Itzhak Ron, CEO and Chairman of Tal Ron, Drihem and Co and Offshore and Gaming Specialist Aviya Arika.

The world of affiliate marketing is a colorful one, from which new magical creatures keep emerging. With the rise of the 'get rich quick' niche emerged the fairies of content marketing and videos with amazing success stories told 'first hand' by people who managed to get rich from binary options or Forex trading.

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Robert Mfune, who was the subject of a recent Finance Magnates article, and his like, are the Cinderellas of this realm. These new age affiliates walked the extra mile and crossed the border beyond 'conventional' get rich quick content marketing and videos to tailoring a whole character, backed by Instagram photos, articles and tweets, of new money young millionaires, who of course, made their sudden fortune out of binary options or Forex Trading .

As if get rich quick marketing wasn't legally dangerous enough already, seems like these 'character affiliates', as we like to call them, made the plot thicken even more. Deceptive marketing is legally considered, in many countries, a malpractice which is banned by law and by different consumer protection regulations.

What bothers legislators and regulatory authorities the most is the damage that deceptive marketing causes consumers. In a suit filed a few years back by the American FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and the state of Connecticut, an affiliate marketing company named LeadClick was held liable for its use of websites that displayed deceptive marketing content related to weight loss products. This liability was determined even though LeadClick wasn't directly responsible for the creation of the content! The test the court used was asking whether substantial damage was caused to consumers.

Deducting from this case, and other cases in other countries, deceptive marketing is legally dangerous both for those producing it and for those indirectly benefiting from it. That is why we believe brokers who use the services of such affiliate marketers should take legal precautions, in order to legally cover themselves in case things go the wrong way.

For example, the brokers Mfune mentions as the ones who are "popular and trusted" may be exposed if he gets into trouble. He presents them while posing as an unbiased young recently rich man, when he is in fact their supplier, legally contractually bound to them- and they are his clients. When they receive leads generated from these recommendations of his, they are in fact cooperating with the deception, and benefit from it.

More about the authors:

Adv. and Notary Tal Itzhak Ron is a General Member of International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL), practicing Hi Tech, Mobile Applications law, Digital Media, i-Gaming and Financial Entertainment law. Tal graduated from Haifa University School of Law (LL.B.) and Faculty of Computer Science (B.Sc.) and is the CEO and Chairman of Tal Ron, Drihem and Co., Law Firm.

Offshore and Gaming Specialist Aviya Arika is a seasoned professional who have been involved in the gaming and binary options industries for years. Through hands-on experience in the leading financial entertainment law firm Tal Ron, Drihem and Co., working with the firm’s chairman, Ms. Arika's areas of work with the firm extends from offshore and international finance law to regulated licensing and gaming law.