HOUSTON -- Local 2 Investigates an Internet investment company.

What if you could get paid every time your friends and family logged online to shop, e-mail, blog or even read the news?

One Texas company called iJango says it's possible. Its executives are traveling the country now recruiting customers.

Local 2 Investigates took a hidden camera to a local sales pitch.

Investigative reporter Amy Davis shows you why some are skeptical the idea will lead to real dollars.

It looks like a convention. Crowds fill hotel ballrooms across the country eager to learn about a new way to make money.

"This is the finest opportunity that I've ever seen in my life," iJango Chairman Steve Smith told a crowd in a ballroom at the Omni Hotel in Houston.

"I'm really not here to give you some fast-talking sales presentation," said Cameron Sharpe, the man who says he created the new business plan.

But the seminars and webinars have raised more questions than answers.

"Consumers are calling us from all over the country," said Erin Dufner, the vice president of communications at the Austin Better Business Bureau.

The Austin BBB says it received nearly 1,000 inquiries about iJango in just two weeks.

"Often times what happens when we see a large spike in inquiries is that there is some confusion by consumers about the true nature of the business," explained Dufner.

iJango's motto is "The Center of the Online Universe."

The motto doesn't tell you much, but at the event we attended, founder Sharpe told the crowd that by paying $149.95 down and $19.95 a month, they could all be a part of something very big.

"We're gonna end up with the largest Internet customer base in the world. And we're gonna get rich if you work this business," Sharpe said.

Here's how iJango says it works:

After you pay those fees, you get your own iJango Web site. Anyone who comes to the Internet through your iJango site helps you earn money.

When they buy a song from iTunes, as long as they get to iTunes through your site, iJango says you get a cut.

"This is where I get excited because you get paid anytime that people you know search, e-mail, shop, blog, read the news," said Sharpe.

iJango claims it's partnered with hundreds of retailers to kick a commission back to you.

The only problem?

"A lot of these affiliations that iJango is claiming, we were really unable to identify," said Dufner.

Sharpe says the company has partnered with Google, Rhapsody and iTunes to name a few.

But Google told the BBB, "We are not affiliated with that company. Our trademark team is looking into this issue."

A Rhapsody spokesperson said it was "not affiliated with iJango."

And iTunes wrote, "There is no business called iJango in our affiliate program."

There is another way to make money with iJango.

Local 2 Investigates has learned many of the customers have already been paid, not for commissions, but for recruiting others to join and pay the $149 down payment.

That is what caused the Austin BBB to utter the "P" word.

"A pyramid scheme is certainly illegal if people are just getting paid based on the recruitment of others, and there's really no exchange of a product," Dufner said.

iJango's web portal wasn't even working until Aug. 5. It was impossible for anyone to make money from commissions or by clicking on links and ads, but people were paid weeks before.

We've learned the state attorney general's office is looking into iJango as well, asking its own questions.

No one from iJango returned our e-mail and we couldn't get an answer by phone, so we drove to the Austin office, where, until May, the owner ran a travel company.

Is iJango a pyramid scheme?" Davis asked iJango's director of representative success Danny Jacobs.

"Um, no comment. I'm not going -- absolutely not. I'm not gonna answer any questions," Jacobs said.

"I mean, you work for the company," Davis countered. "Can you say whether it's a pyramid scheme?"

Minutes later, Jacobs came back with a comment.

"Got comments for you," Jacobs said. "OK, contact our attorney Ed Burbach. I can give you his number."

That attorney tells us that with any new company there will be a period of time when people are paid before the products or service is available.

He says iJango is not a pyramid scheme and that its customers will begin earning commissions from sales and ad reviews soon.

Here's why he says everyone will want to use iJango's portal as a home page:

Registered customers can customize their home pages to view Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, news, shopping and blogs all on the same screen.

Granted, other companies like iGoogle already offer this service, but iJango says with Google you can't make money.

Attorney Ed Burbach says iJango's partnerships with hundreds of retailers may be difficult to confirm because iJango's agreement is actually with a third party vendor that hooked iJango up with the retailers.

Some of the agreements, like the one with Google AdSense, is something anyone can sign up for. It's not exclusive to iJango.

So, will iJango succeed? And will anyone be paid for merely clicking online?

iJango's customers who made the investment are still waiting to find out.

Cameron Sharpe has been removed from his management position at iJango. The company's attorney said iJango critics were focusing on Sharpe's background with another Texas-based business and back child support instead of the actual company.

The bottom line is that iJango may be too new to determine if it is, in fact, a pyramid scheme.

We are in contact with several iJango customers. We will let you know if and when they receive any money from commissions at iJango.

iJango Network also sent the following statement to counter the BBB's reliability report.

"A considerable amount of investor money, computer programming, time, resources and sweat equity has been invested into iJango Network, which is a start-up internet company that was officially rolled out three weeks ago. We believe the Central Texas Better Business Bureau (BBB) mistakenly mischaracterized the company in a news release and in a reliability report. iJango adamantly denies the allegations. iJango is also disappointed that the BBB issued the news release 12 days before a date when they had asked the company to respond in writing. The company is following a proven network marketing business model based on the success of Excel Communications, which became the 4th largest long distance company in the country. With any start-up there are a few glitches with an initial launch, but there have only been 3 complaints filed against the company at the BBB. The company is working to resolve them."

Want to learn more details about iJango that we couldn't fit into this story? Check out the Ask Amy blog.