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A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, often without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, Albania, Canada, Romania, Colombia, Malaysia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Italy, Nepal, Iceland, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran, the People's Republic of China, Mexico, Portugal and The Netherlands. These types of schemes have existed for at least a century. Nowadays, subtler schemes exist, whereby wealth is still attained by the owner, but not unless those at the base are also earning. From Wikipedia under the
GNU Free Documentation License  media3.washingtonpost.com 270px x 195px | 18.00kB [source page] BOGOTA Colombia Police tear gassed protesters Thursday as a crackdown on illegal investment schemes exposed class divisions in Colombian society  dreammakers.net 60px x 216px | 1.50kB [source page] similar to chain letters while disguised pyramids are like wolves is sheep s clothing hiding their true nature in order to fool potential investors and evade law enforcers Pyramid schemes are illegal scams in which large numbers of people at the bottom of the pyramid pay money to a few people at the top Each new participant pays for the From Yahoo Image Search: "Pyramid scheme"  southwalesargus.co.uk unknown Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:27:01 GM THREE women were charged in connection with a suspected unlawful . pyramid scheme. .  reason.com (Brian Doherty) Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:28:01 GM Hey, some people do profit from them! The Associated Press via Fox News (and not Dave Berg) takes a look at "victims" of the Madoff . scheme. who actually have already pulled out way more than they put in...and.  leftcoastrebel.com Left Coast Rebel hu, 22 Oct 2009 21:25:01 GM These things need to be known, from yesterday's show. What is really going on behind the scenes. The madness of the waning years of the Bush administration accelerated by the Obamanation. Where will we be when the domino-. pyramid scheme. ... From Google Blog Search: "Pyramid scheme"  news.google.com ... especially capitalism now as we know it, is a pyramid scheme , and it's set up so that, again, the richest one percent sit on top of the pyramid . ... news.google.com Reuters UK This is the nature of what are known as Ponzi schemes , or a classic pyramid scheme Bernard Madoff constantly had to raise money from new investors to cash ... news.google.com USA Today ... ventures would pay returns of 14 and 20%. Instead, he spent the money on himself. Hsu's decade-long pyramid scheme collapsed in September 2007. Democratic fund raiser sentenced to 24 years in fraud AFP all 646 news articles » From Google News Search: "Pyramid scheme" Is it illeagle to threaten to expose someone who hit you with a pyramid scheme? Q. I got tricked into a pyramid scheme off a website where you can post ads for jobs. Is it illegal to a) threaten to expose them by putting up an add specifically stating to watch out for that individual person on the same website and b) actually acting on that threat and doing it? Asked by Jay - Sun Nov 9 17:27:44 2008 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments Does Social Security fit the description of a Pyramid Scheme? Q. Everyone at the bottom still working puts their money in and the people who started earlier at the top pull out after a certain period of time??? What happends to a pyramid scheme when the people pulling out outnumber the ones putting in? If all this is true, then why do business with similiar strutures seem to have such a bad rep??? Asked by Old Wise One - Fri Jan 12 04:43:56 2007 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments A. You're exactly right, it is a classic Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme. Each cash payment generates another "i.o.u." within the budget... When the number of people at the top of the pyramid becomes too great for those at the bottom to support them, the system will collapse... Answered by morlock825 - Fri Jan 12 04:55:30 2007 Is Profitable Capital a Pyramid Scheme ?
Q. There is a company called Profitable Capital which is offering returns of 9% per day. The whole thing looks shady. The thing I find curious is that it is also claiming to sponsor ESPN and even though its in the USA to be part of the Singapore Profitable Group which also claims sponsorship for ESPN. The two web sites share the same hosting. Since I cant see ESPN being involved with pyramid schemes I am wondering exactly what kind of investment this is. Asked by The hounslow kid - Fri Mar 21 07:06:57 2008 - - 2 Answers - 1 Comments A. Profitable Capital is almost certainly a Ponzi scheme. The difference between Pyramid and Ponzi is that Ponzi payout is funded by future investors persuaded by marketing whereas Pyramid depends on your performance at bringing more people in. Ponzi is a lazy Pyramid basically. In a Ponzi you get paid your 9% per day as long as more people come in behind you. They get their 9% as long as more people come behind them. Typically you also get a commission for bringing more people on which tends to make you stay when you shouldn't and lose you a lot of friends. In both schemes once you run out of future investors you lose all your money. Bit like social security :-) So unless your timing is perfect and you dont get tempted to re-invest… [cont.] Answered by Stan Street - Sat Mar 22 08:21:29 2008 From Yahoo Answer Search: "Pyramid scheme" |
