accuracy is disputed . please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced . see the relevant discussion on the talk page . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message the cobra group type private industry marketing founded 1988 founders danny rae and chris niarchos founder and chairman headquarters hong kong hong kong area served global key people paul sanderson ceo products multi level marketing subsidiaries appco group website www.cobragroup.com the cobra group is a controversial door to door selling and marketing company headquartered in hong kong . investigations by the media have found that the company promises much larger compensation rates than employees actually receive as commission only self employed workers . it is also criticised for being cult scam and pyramid scheme . 1 2 the company has an affiliate network of legally independent sales companies in 25 countries throughout europe and asia . the cobra group s subsidiaries represent firms in industries such as telecommunications home security energy and financial services . the group is also contracted by some charitable organisations to collect donations . 3 contents 1 criticism 2 investigations 3 sponsorship 4 see also 5 references 6 external links criticism edit common criticism of companies of cobra group are cult exploiting workers scam and pyramid scheme . 1 2 affiliated company appco responded the criticism on the official site . 4 investigations edit a zimbabwean woman won a legal case against a cobra group affiliate for unfair treatment in the workplace . she was awarded 5000 in compensation for harassment and discriminatory treatment and 45000 for discriminatory dismissal . 5 the main argument used by broadey in defending his case was that the worker in question had been a self employed sole trader and not actually an employee of his company . prior to the dismissal the worker in question had been lauded as the highest fundraiser within boss worldwide promotions ltd. 6 an investigation by the media found that one of the cobra group s subsidiaries the coulson organization which collects charity for the red cross among others has charity collectors take down private financial information without vetting the staff . 7 the company said they ask recruits to detail any criminal histories . the investigative journalist said they were given a badge that indicates they had been vetted though they had never provided any identification . 7 the journalist was told she would make 35 pounds per sale but was only actually paid half unless the donor agreed to make continual donations for six months . 7 the bbc investigation led the department for business enterprise and regulatory reform energy select committee to release a report 8 threatening to ban energy companies from using direct sales . 9 video footage showed cobra group contracted companies lying to potential customers . 10 some of its activities include stopping people in public or going door to door to try to collect money for charities . 11 on 2 june 2014 the new south wales office of liquor gaming and racing announced it would begin an investigation into the conduct of cobra group subsidiary appco over its running of a gift voucher program for special olympics australia . 12 sponsorship edit the cobra group and founder chris niarchos have sponsored various types of motorsports drivers since 2003 . 13 14 chris niarchos through the cobra group partnered with andrew kirkaldy in 2006 to the form the british racing team then known as aka cobra . this partnership led to the formation of crs racing in 2007 . 15 see also edit pyramid scheme multi level marketing references edit a b https www.google.com search q cobra group cult scam a b https thedevilcorp.wordpress.com tag the cobra group scam the cobra group . 2009 . http www.appcogroup.co.uk about us mythbusters dec e2007 072 full case report . december 2007 . shanahan catherine 2008 01 15 . 50 000 for unfairly dismissed woman irish examiner . archives.tcm.ie . retrieved 2012 03 20 . a b c ford coreena october 17 2010 . north red cross charity collectors probed . the committee office house of commons 2008 12 15 . house of commons business and enterprise first report . publications.parliament.uk . retrieved 2012 03 20 . shutting the door on doorstep salesmen archive . marketing week . retrieved 2012 03 20 . bbc inside out rogue salespeople . bbc.co.uk . 2003 10 13 . retrieved 2012 03 20 . penman andrew 4 august 2005 . just 6 for eight days cobra group work . jeong saimi ; safi michael 19 june 2014 . global fundraising company keeps 7m of 12.2 m raised for special olympics . the guardian . retrieved 17 february 2015 . sky to sponsor cr scuderia . motorsports journal . 2008 01 10 . retrieved 2012 03 20 . gt bgtc media giant sky to sponsor cr scuderia news . motorsport.com . retrieved 2012 03 20 . crscuderia.com . crscuderia.com . retrieved 2012 03 20 . external links edit cobra group retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the cobra group & oldid 723290994 categories companies based in londoncompanies based in sydneycompanies established in 1986direct marketing1986 establishments in australiahidden categories accuracy disputes from november 2015all accuracy disputes navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages italianonederlands edit links this page was last modified on 2 june 2016 at 05 21 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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