pyramid-schemes
(Ewan-M)
(Photo: icanhascheezburger)
—>Wanna see the Maddoff clan's AMEX statements? They're online here. 2 grand Giorgio Armani in Paris, 8 grand at a hotel, 10 grand to charity, $441 at a bagel store, the garners of unlawful gains really know how to live it up. But you gotta give the guy some credit: he did pay his bills on time. [Scribd] (Thanks to Chris!) More »
—>Everyone seems to have a friend or family member that's been suckered into a multi-level marketing road to nowhere. While you may have no trouble identifying Amway, Zrii, Arbonne and the like as pyramid schemes, convincing naive loved ones, blinded by get-rich-quick dreams, is another matter entirely. More »
—>To help the judge decide Madoff's sentencing, the NY AG's office submitted 96 pages what they said were emails from his victims. I feel bad for this one guy on page 36... More »
—>The SEC has busted another Ponzi scheme and ordered its operators to "disgorge their ill-gotten gains." In this one, Anthony Vassallo of "Equity Investment Management and Trading" recruited investors through his church by saying he had a computer program that would guarantee a 3.5% return on stocks. Eventually he stopped trading and paid off investors using other investor's money, while shoveling the rest of the funds into other schemes and scams. Vassallo was eventually busted when his investors ganged up on him and said his reports were phony-baloney. More »
—>Kevin's been invited to his friend's house to hear about a great new business opportunity! He writes, "I did a quick Google search and... while the company appears to be legit, it seems that their way of marketing their products [is] almost pyramid scheme in nature." The problem for Kevin, and anyone else researching this sort of thing, is it can be hard to tell how much you should trust any specific page of reviews or feedback. Here's a clear 5-step evaluation to determine whether or not the next big thing is really a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme. More »
—>A hedge fund manager, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, who invested $1.4 billion in Madoff's $50billion Ponzi scheme was found dead by apparent, movie-style, suicide. More »
—>Madoff's $50 billion scam came unwound when too many investors tried to pull their money at the same time, which means we're likely to more big swindles get exposed in the coming months... More »
—>Famous broker Bernard Madoff was arrested yesterday for running what was really a $50 billion pyramid scheme. Slate's The Big Money has insight on how investors can spot an operator like Madoff: More »
I've been approached by a friend to join up with MonaVie acai juice—it's a "superfood" juice that's sold through "network marketing." I actually do like the product, and this is a friend I trust, but my alarm bells are still going off. I don't want to get sucked into a scam, obviously. There's nothing about this company on your site, so I thought I'd drop you a line and see if you had any advice. More »
—>The modern pyramid scheme has undergone slight tweaks in order to stay just with the bounds of the law, and still keep the fun scam times going. When you strip away all the pretty foil and chocolate, though, a naked Ponzi sits in the center, laughing his ass off. More »
—>Using the names of companies accused of being DS-Max (now known as Innovage) subsidiaries/affiliates on Ripoffreport and a list on DS-Max The Aftermath, I did a search of Monster, Hot Jobs, and other job sites to pick out real ads that are out there and should be avoided. More »
—>This is almost everything you need know about DS-MAX (now known as Innovage), the super-shady multi-level-marketing group whose business practices seems to have inspired the Midtown Promotions office we're looking into. It's culled from an excellent post over at DS-MAX: The Aftermath: More »
—>You too can work for an energy supplier and seize a piece of this exciting money-making opportunity! At least, that's what the Craigslist ad told us.
You may know well the great promise of Network Marketing.We love the part where they say the amount of money you can make from this depends on,
The timing of entry of the networker into the company growth curve.aka, it's better to be at the top of the Ponzi scheme. For the uninitiated, network marketing is just another name for multi-level-marketing (MLM), structurally similar to a pyramid scheme, except usually there's an actual product being sold. Employees get money for selling products, and for signing up new recruits. A cut of your commission flows up to the guy who signed you up, and you get a cut of your recruits' commissions, and so on up the pyramid. The FTC ruled that MLM isn't illegal per se. Often they're set up so the people on the very bottom don't make much, or even end up losing, money. Amway is a famous example. More »
—>Ramit has a neat post on how Network Marketing and Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) are nothing more than a pyramid scheme in a cheap suit. More »
