Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ponzi

Anyone up on Web 2.0 MLM scams?

Roach — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:20:53 -0800

Looking for background on a new (to me) type of MLM scam. A friend with a background in legitimate marketing (he runs the marketing dept. for our local semi-pro football team) has recently begun spamming his Facebook friends and signing all of his emails with ads for his new "business". Googling the name of his product and his website turns up all sorts of hits related to "attraction marketing". It seems like another MLM scam to me, related to selling websites instead of actual products. Does anyone have any experience with this "attraction marketing" stuff? It's very difficult to search for legitimate info on.

I'd like to have material, examples, etc to show him how it's one giant pyramid scheme scam and makes his own work look less professional and less ethical.

If you Google "intlmlm guru" the first result is a 5-minute YouTube video presentation of this thing by his apparent partner. I watched the whole thing and was more confused than ever.

What is cash gifting?

bensherman — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:42:34 -0800

What are the specifics of "Cash Gifting"? All I can figure out is that it is a rip-off Ponzi scheme, but I can't find any specifics. I saw some youtube videos about people getting boatloads of cash in the mail overnight, but some details are interesting. When I google it, I see only asshat promoters of it.

The specifics that I wonder about are the similar phrases and logistics of the videos. The basics are that people send large amounts of cash to each other. The cash comes in a UPS envelope, containing a magazine. Inside the magazine is an envelope with the recipient's name on it. Inside that envelope are some legal forms they refer to as "the gifting form" and a "non-compete", with a bunch of cash ($1500 or so).

So what are the mechanics of this scam and what other names might it go by? What are those legal forms, and what is the method that these people are using to make it not appear to be a straight pyramid scam?

Should I report what I suspect is a ponzi scheme being pitched?

frieze — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:38:32 -0800

What should I do about overhearing what I think was the pitch for a ponzi scheme? So I spend my fridays from about 11 to 2 in the starbucks a few blocks from my apartment. For the last three weeks the same two (or in one case three) guys in nice suits have been pitching different groups of five to ten people trying to get them to go into some kind of business with them. Because there isn't a whole lot of seating room I've been next to them each time and overheard a few sections of the pitch and it sounds like they are selling distributorships for some kind of telecom device/service which I can't understand. All of the technical talk I've heard them give is total bullshit (I have two CS degrees so I can tell when they make no sense) and the stories they tell about their genius backers are too good to possibly be true. While it's possible that these guys are just stupid businessmen their scamming/sales talk is too polished, and the fact that I saw one of them sell a "Gold Plan" to one of the visitors for $2300 pretty much cements the whole thing in my mind. So what do I do? I really don't want to piss someone who is running such a lucrative scam off (I foresee it ending badly for me) , and I don't have any real evidence anyway. On the other hand the stories I overheard from their customer/victims make me want to help them out, since they seem ill able to lose the money they are "investing". Should I try to chase down whoever in the city/state police would be investigating this kind of thing? Should I do so anonymously? I live in NYC if anyone has any hints on who to get in touch with.