The publication of the original “Scamworld” article rattled some cages, and it also opened a lot of doors. We were contacted by a number of insiders — victims, former employees, and other people in that world. We learned what it was like to sell, and what it was like to be on the receiving end of the hard sell. We heard about the political climate in the state of Utah, and about the donations to state officials and to presidential candidates — including Mitt Romney. People wanted to talk.

Some of them wanted to talk about Prosper, Inc.

The Provo, Utah-based company bills itself as “one of the most trusted names in one-to-one personalized education.” It is often referred to as a coaching floor or a call center, but the one term that we see used interchangeably is “boiler room.”

In “Scamworld” we discussed how Prosper partners with Internet Marketers like Mike Filsaime to sell coaching programs, which are kind of like the “correspondence courses” that Radar used to sign up for on M*A*S*H. When a sales call offers Mike Filsaime-branded business coaching, you might think you’ll be working with Filsaime himself, but in reality everything is handled by Prosper. Filsaime sold them the lead, and he gets a cut of whatever you buy, but that’s basically the extent of his involvement.

Mike Filsaime is just one of Prosper's many coaching partners.