Important signs of a financial pyramid. History and modernity

Today there are a huge number of ways to earn money, since along with the Internet and technology there are more and more opportunities to earn money. In this regard, more and more financial frauds are appearing, and in particular financial pyramids.

On this moment All more people trying to build their own industry in which they can make money. Since many people want to receive money without leaving home, they are beginning to learn the intricacies of financial pyramids.

The main condition of financial pyramids is to attract new people to their structure, so that there are more lower layers - which can be found out in more detail on this website www.achupryna.com. Since the shape of the pyramid is decreasing, this is precisely related to this system. At the top, at the head, is the leader and initiator of this entire process. He receives the largest profit and all other layers are subordinate to him. Below him are the deputies and they also receive money for their work, considerable money at that.

Next come simple people, who are constantly busy looking for new victims and trying to attract as many people as possible to their community. The more people there are, the greater the leader’s profit, since he has his own percentage from each person.

Every day, many people fall under the influence of financial pyramids, and as they are promised, they do not invest anything. This is the whole point of the pyramid. You are promised huge profits, despite the fact that you invest nothing. Just because you join the company, recommend it to your friends, acquaintances and any other people. Later, you are told that you can replace your usual purchases or expenses with the costs of this company or company, hiding behind honesty and a sincere interest in you saving. The most paradoxical thing in this situation is that many people, knowing what they are doing, still do it.

For more motivation we send you financial reports, in which you understand nothing, but at the same time you see huge numbers labeled “profit”. Since many people are now experiencing financial difficulties, they boldly buy into such things without knowing exactly where these reports come from or what they actually do.

The founders of financial pyramids constantly use a certain optical illusion in their practice. People who don't understand this constantly fall for such tricks without realizing it.

You will be constantly motivated by profits, meetings of happy investors, etc., which will naturally affect any person who has problems in financially. Willingly, a person begins to believe in the effectiveness of such methods, which is quite obvious.

In meetings and in messages you are guaranteed a happy and rich life, kindness and understanding in the team, the opportunity, without leaving home, to earn tens of times more than ordinary ordinary employees in good companies.

Thinking about what exactly is being offered to you, you can see the deception. But the founders of such pyramids are very smart, and they know how to make sure that you are deceived efficiently, correctly and legally.

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Nowadays, few people do not know what signs of a financial pyramid exist, because quite recently, some 20 years ago, a huge number of people suffered from such fraudulent schemes. Suffice it to recall the sad experience of MMM. And even now, there are still financial organizations that simply build their pyramid, not caring about actually securing their obligations.

Principle of operation

The pyramid is built only on the basis of a constant influx of money from new investors. The main attraction incentive is the obligation to pay a usually inflated percentage of income on deposits. The main feature of the pyramid is that all payments are made not from the profits received from financial activities, but from the influx of new deposits.

To put it another way, all cases in which the amount of payments on obligations exceeds the added value from the business are financial pyramids. Simply illegal fraud.

The name most likely originated only in the 90s of the last century after the collapse of MMM. The comparison with the pyramid turned out to be the most obvious in order to show that the well-being and the very activity of any such society rests entirely with the participants in the “lowest” floors of the system. The flow of funds is always directed from a large base to a certain group of people at the top, moreover, by increasing the amount of deposits or attracting investors. Everyone who is at the bottom tries to rise to the upper levels as quickly as possible.

Why financial pyramids collapse

The reason why they are not able to work for a long time is the simple lack of influx of new deposits. Payments are made only at their expense. When it is no longer possible to cover past obligations, and the first signs of collapse appear, the management of the financial pyramid either declares bankruptcy and falls under administrative liability, or manages to elude justice and its dissatisfied investors in other countries with accumulated funds.

The process of destruction of the next pyramid is quite easy to understand and detect. Securities issued by a financial organization initially soar in price and fall even more rapidly, ultimately depreciating completely.

Multi-level pyramids

The first type can be called multi-level schemes. They are currently the most widespread, sometimes even without hiding their essence, they are in some demand. The financial pyramid scheme is quite simple:

1. Upon joining the organization, the investor makes an initial contribution, which is distributed among all superior members who invited him.
2. The investor brings two or three new volunteers, and they accordingly make their contributions, which are distributed between existing members and the person who invited them directly.

To understand the characteristics and operation of such a pyramid, let’s give an example. Let’s say that upon joining you need to deposit 1000 conventional units. This amount will be distributed between the inviter and the higher-ranking members from whom he is a referent. Next, the newcomer brings two newcomers who contribute their funds, and part of them goes to the inviter. Let’s say the inviter retains 50%, and the members following him receive half as much with each step.

If the two people he invited invite two more each, then the profit will increase by another 100%, that is, by a thousand. Thus, having invested your funds, you can get at least 200% for only two levels of referents. If you attract three participants and so on, you can already count on 300% or more.

The problem that these types of financial pyramids face is the emergence of a banal lack of new participants. In order to have at least some benefit from participation, it is necessary to involve a larger number of participants with each level, which increases exponentially. In the short term, for such financial constructions, even the population of the entire planet will not be enough for new participants to have time to repay the initial payment.

Most often, participants at the lower levels do not bring newcomers at all. Thus, simply losing your money. Such losers often make up 80-90% of all participants.

Pyramid schemes based on the Ponzi principle

Actually, the notorious MMM also belongs to this type. Charlie Ponzi is the man who is credited with the very first pyramid of this type. He created it in the 20s of the last century. A sign of such options are management's promises to pay huge interest to its investors. Initially, the influx of new participants in the system is small, and interest on payments is covered at the expense of the organizer.

After the first investors of the pyramid successfully receive interest, information about such an effective earning mechanism spreads, and the number of participants increases like a snowball. It is at this moment that payments on old obligations are already carried out by attracting new funds.

Such a scheme can last long enough as long as the funds raised cover the increasing payments. As soon as signs appear that there is nothing to make payments from, the organizers of the pyramid simply disappear with the money, for example, they go abroad.

Reasons for the emergence of pyramids in the financial world

The reasons that lead to the possibility of the emergence of financial pyramids can be divided into categories depending on the prerequisites and characteristics:

History of financial relationships and financial fraud

In the history of Europe, as the most developed region of the planet in terms of economic and financial relations, there are many examples of financial pyramids and structures similar to them. The result in the end was always disastrous for the vast majority.

The European economy felt the most painful blows from the activities of various enterprises that emerged in the 17th-19th centuries against the backdrop of trade wars and the conquest of new trade markets around the world. A striking example is the Company South Seas, which was founded in Great Britain in 1711. It existed until 1721. During its existence and activity, it became the largest creditor of the state. The history of the formation and subsequent catastrophic fall of the company cost its shareholders and the state 9 million pounds sterling, which were exchanged for shares.

The company provided its shareholders with unique trading rights in South America, which at that time was under the control of the Spanish crown. The company's obligations stipulated the redemption of government debt subject to the completion of the War of the Spanish Heritage for the benefit of England. The principles of the financial pyramid were built on the inability to realize such obligations.

The company's shares, which initially cost £128, rose in price to £550 within five months, indicating an unprecedented rise in price. The buyers of the securities were many titled persons in England, and an advertising company was subsequently built on their behalf to further attract investors.

In order to completely secure monopoly influence in the securities market and trading permits, the company's management lobbied for a royal act, according to which a ban was actually introduced on the distribution of shares of other similar organizations. Subsequently, the actions of individual leaders to promote this act in parliament were declared illegal.

The share price eventually rose to its £1,000 ceiling. Almost everyone, from peasants to lords, bought them, which was the first sign of the end of the campaign. However, unable to meet its own obligations, the company declared itself bankrupt a few months later, which is natural for such a financial structure like a pyramid. The price of securities fell in a month to a critical low of £150.

A huge number of people from all segments of the population suffered from the company’s actions. Even such world-famous personalities as Isaac Newton and writer Jonathan Swift lost significant capital. However, the company cannot be called unsuccessful, because the majority of the organizers managed to leave England with huge sums of money, including its founder R. Harley, who was also the chief treasurer of Foggy Albion.

Financial pyramids in modern history

The story that happened just twenty years ago is perceived much more clearly. The emergence from scratch and the catastrophically fast promotion of MMM brought large profits to many of its investors at the beginning, and subsequently left a much larger number of people without any personal savings. At the beginning of the turbulent nineties, the financial pyramid built by Sergei Mavrodi was supported by people as a kind of salvation from the hyperinflation that reigned around and was almost the only option to get out of the current crisis.

In the end, everything turned out to be much more prosaic and deplorable. The result of mass fraud was the loss of 110 million rubles by investors, of whom, according to various estimates, there were 10-15 million. The worst thing is that after the final closure of MMM, 50 people committed suicide. Among the victims were ordinary workers, pensioners and students, ordinary people.

The beginning of such an enchanting rise of MMM was marked by a wave of unprecedented advertising in the media. For Post-Soviet space These were still unfamiliar technologies, and they had a huge impact on the minds of viewers. After the first deposits and payments, people flocked to the company's cash desks with the desire to invest as much of their savings as possible. The pyramid share price started at 25 thousand rubles. and eventually reached 125 thousand rubles. This seemed like a miracle to many and only encouraged even more people to join the scam.

However, at the peak of activity, signs began to appear that the pyramid was no longer working. The limit on the number of active investors was reached, the inflow decreased in scale and the decline in share prices went much faster. A few days later, for one piece of paper from Mavrodi they gave only 1 thousand rubles.

The worst thing in this story is that the MMM pyramid was reborn from the ashes, as if nothing had happened, several more times. Time after time, new tickets were issued, and the old ones were frozen, and still there were people who wanted them. That is, people simply did not understand that they were being seriously deceived.

Financial pyramids and the Internet

The spread of the Internet and its development has allowed many scammers to develop their activities without being tied to any real pieces of paper or shares. In essence, it is not a product that is being sold, but only a subjective opportunity to make money. The distribution system is simplified. For example, the first investor purchases membership in an organization and receives a link to the company's resource. His task is to distribute his referral link on as many sites as possible so that people use it. For each new client, he receives a certain amount from his first-level purchase, which implements the basic principle of the pyramid.

The transition from level to level, where income from referents increases, is also paid. Moreover, each new level is more expensive than the previous one.

What are some examples of the most sensational and effective financial pyramids on the Internet?

1. Seven wallets. The system is simple. It is necessary to send a certain amount in equal shares to the electronic wallets of seven people according to the list provided by the system, and invite several more new participants in the system. But each new invitee is given a list of seven wallets, in which the first number is eliminated, and the inviter’s wallet is added to the end. It is believed that for every ruble invested you can get a profit of 13,950 rubles. But this is actually an unattainable goal because the number of participants is growing at a colossal pace. In addition, private fraud is possible when seven wallets on the list work for one person.
2. The NewPro program proposed another version of the financial pyramid, in which there seems to be more control over the distribution of funds and benefits. Entry price is only 90 rubles. This is how much a first level key costs. Subsequent ones are purchased from the funds received. The goal is to invite three more participants. The final goal is to get 30 million rubles by reaching level 28. The only problem is that to achieve this level, about 23 trillion will need to be introduced into the system. users, which is many orders of magnitude greater than the entire population of the planet. In addition, it turns out that keys can be generated not only by organizers, but also by users.
3. When creating the next system, MoneyTrain, the creators tried to get rid of such glaring errors of previous versions. The number of levels has been reduced to 18, and the total number of required invitees to 580 million. However, this is not realistic to achieve.

Identifying scammers

The problem of unambiguously identifying scammers against the background of completely legitimate business ideas is that not all schemes built on the pyramid principle are deliberately fraudulent. There are many examples where network marketing works in the same way that a pyramid scheme works, building on a broad base and condensing it into a single top.

Another option could simply be a mistake made by the entrepreneur in structuring his business. Or simply when unexpected expenses arise. To keep the business afloat, he is forced to turn to third-party investments or lending, but this may result in new loans being used only to cover obligations on old loans instead of growing the business.

To top it off, it is worth noting that even the pension system in our country is built like a financial pyramid. And as long as there are more pensioners working, it will be trouble-free.

What are the main features of a fraudulent structure, and how to recognize a financial pyramid? Here are three main indicators:

Hello! Today we’ll talk about financial pyramids so that you know what they are, how they work, and so that you don’t fall for such “earning money” schemes in your life.

A market economy is characterized by freedom of enterprise and freedom of choice in the way of doing business. For any businessman, the main goal of his business is to make a profit. The universal measure of performance evaluation is money. The functioning of a legitimate business is based on the production, sale or resale of goods, provision of services and other schemes. There is such a term as financial pyramids. Most often, although not always, these are deliberately created fraudulent models for obtaining money by their creators.

What is a financial pyramid

In economic terms, a financial pyramid is an organized scheme for its participants to generate income by attracting funds from new participants. That is, people entering the pyramid today “provide” for those who came there earlier. Or all the money can be accumulated by one person - the organizer.

The average person will immediately remember the MMM financial pyramid in Russia in the early 90s, which ended in a loud collapse with thousands of people affected. And indeed, in most cases they disguise themselves as investment, charitable funds, companies with goods that have no real value, or simply promise to make money out of thin air.

However, the classic business scheme can lead to a financial pyramid. This happens when the owner miscalculates profitability and the company runs at a loss or has difficulty covering its cost. Money borrowed or raised from investors cannot be returned. To support the business, new loans are taken out and used to pay off previous debtors. It is incorrect to interpret this as fraud; this situation is closer to the concept of illegal entrepreneurship.

Fraudsters often take advantage of this loophole, carefully covering up financial pyramid schemes in order to evade responsibility. A business may bring in a small profit, but if systematically the added value (the result of the company’s work) is less than the income payments, then this project is a financial pyramid. In fact, most of the profit in this case is cash from new investors.

To denote a deceptive scheme, this expression began to be used in England from the early 70s. last century, although financial pyramids originated much earlier. The first company operating under a financial pyramid scheme is the joint-stock company (JSC) “Organization of India” by John Law. According to the plan, it was supposed to invest the funds raised in the development of the Mississippi River. In fact, the investments were minimal, and the enterprising Scot used most of the proceeds to purchase government bonds. In fact, he paid off all of France's foreign debts. Law promised that the shares bought today would soon rise in price. Because of the hype, within six months the cost of one paper exceeded the original price several times. France was forced to issue more and more paper money. When the money supply became enormous and the price of shares rose to unprecedented levels, this pyramid collapsed. Prices for goods rose sharply and paper money was not accepted as payment.

Subsequently, financial pyramids began to appear periodically in other countries. He organized a large fraudulent scheme related to coupons in 1919. in the USA Charles Ponzi. This was the first analogue of the modern single-level pyramid. It collapsed because coupons could not be sold for cash, but could only be exchanged. Payments to the first participants came from the following newcomers. In Russia, the pyramid boom occurred during the transition period to the market in the early 1990s, when the famous MMM JSC was created by Sergei Mavrodi.

Financial pyramids are prohibited in many countries (Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, etc.), including Russia (Article 172.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In the UAE and China, there is even a death penalty for building such a structure. If the country does not have a separate article for financial pyramids, then such fraud may be classified as illegal entrepreneurship.

Reasons for the emergence of financial pyramids

The emergence of financial pyramids is due to a number of changes in the economy and government policy. Basic prerequisites:

• free securities market;
• the activities of such structures are not regulated by law;
• improving the standard of living of the population;
• moderate inflation and stable economic growth;
• the country's transition to a market economy;
• the emergence of various financial institutions offering both to preserve their savings and increase them;
• lack of reliable information and illiteracy of the population in financial matters.

The essence of a financial pyramid

The main goal of such a scheme is to enrich the organizers of the pyramid due to the influx of new people. Perhaps those who immediately joined the front ranks and then withdrew their money on time will also benefit. Contributions from participants are not invested anywhere and go to reward the upper levels, that is, those people who invited them and others above them along the entire chain of the pyramid. Accordingly, if the current investor also invites people, he will receive his income from them, etc. In some models, it is possible that some product may be present to cover the “business,” but the essence does not change: profit in the pyramid is obtained through investments new members.

The distribution of funds of joining members occurs according to different schemes. The principle of a financial pyramid is as many newcomers as possible. But when the flow of investors decreases and there is no money to pay out the promised money, the pyramid collapses. The fact is that the number of people on our planet is finite. Not everyone has a chance to get their money back, not to mention the promised interest. The last ones who entered are unlikely to see their money. The organizers may withhold payments for some time, and then collect all available savings and disappear.

How does a financial pyramid work?

There are many variations of fraudulent pyramid schemes. The essence remains the same, but the ways to “show off” the average citizen are becoming more and more sophisticated. Let's look at 2 illustrative examples:

These descriptions are presented in a simplified version. There are complex, intricate schemes with the presence of a real product and are very similar to network marketing, which is a legal business. Financial pyramids survive only due to the influx of new people: there are no other sources of income payment. The collapse of any such organization is inevitable.

Perhaps, just a few months after the start of work, the company begins to feel a “shortage” of new members. At the same time, liabilities grow, and panic often begins among investors. They are starting to sell en masse" securities" If there are any. Or they impulsively decide to withdraw their investments. And if someone says that they were able to make money on the pyramid, it means that they were among the first, or at least in the middle. The top (organizers) will earn more in any case. Sooner or later, a huge number of participants will be scammed, leaving them without money.

In order not to fall for the bait of scammers, you need to know the main signs of financial pyramids. It happens that a person knows about such schemes, but skillful psychological influence and misinformation leads him to the decision to invest his hard-earned money. Signs by which it is highly likely that a business proposal is a financial pyramid:

1. High interest rates and fast payback period. A yield above 30% should already raise alarm bells. There are not many legal ways to secure such returns, and those that exist are all medium to high risk. If a company promises to pay back a project in a few months or even weeks, then a logical question arises: why is it looking for investors among ordinary people, and not among large businessmen and experienced investors?
2. Large amount of "entry fee". More often in the range of 5–20 thousand rubles. However, then the deceived person is unlikely to go to court for this money. This sign is not always clearly expressed.
3. In exchange for the money invested, a person may receive goods at an inflated price and that do not correspond to the declared characteristics, or counterfeit securities. Documents confirming the receipt of funds are not issued, or the person is given an agreement indicating that if the investment strategy does not work, then the invested funds cannot be returned.
4. The company's emphasis on PR. Impressive presentations, product know-how, a beautifully designed website, convincing salespeople, mailings and SMS - all this is aimed at reaching large quantity of people. There are slogans like “Hurry to be among the first!”, “Hurry up and buy a device that has no analogues in the world!” At the same time, the advertising is vague: a specific product or method of generating income from participation in the project is not indicated.
5. Concealment of information about the owners of the enterprise, lack of licenses and permits to engage in financial activities.
6. However, all this can happen if the company is registered under a dummy person or is registered far abroad. If there is no company at all, and a person is invited to an office where only money is exchanged, this is definitely a financial pyramid. Unusual and unclear compensation plan.
7. The abundance of information, complex terms and overly optimistic forecasts should make you wary. They indirectly or directly talk about the need to involve their relatives and friends in the project. At the same time, they offer to learn special psychological techniques
8. or neurolinguistic programming (NLP) methods. Excessive persistence of the organizers.

Convincing a person to make a decision and give money “here and now”, requiring him to sign a non-disclosure agreement and promising easy money for minimal effort.

Types of financial pyramids All fraudulent pyramid schemes are divided into 3 types according to their structure. Sometimes there are assurances from the organizers that they have created a completely new project. However, with his detailed consideration

the scheme will belong to one of three types known today.

Single-level (Ponzi scheme) pyramids

The creator attracts the first participants with high interest rates and guaranteed income for a short period of time. Everyone who joins is not required to attract other people. He can pay the first profit to investors from his own funds. When this project becomes more popular and the number of participants increases, money is transferred - the organizer pays the old participants with the funds of the new ones. The number of people wishing to join is growing steadily and many are re-investing.

Of course, there is no declared activity in this pyramid. It can present itself as an investment project, a charity project, a mutual aid fund, etc. The game of “sack” continues for a certain time. There comes a period when obligations to investors increase, and the influx of new participants decreases. The organizer curtails his activities and disappears along with all the money.

Schematically, such a pyramid looks like this:

In the center is the organizer of the financial pyramid. Contributors are highlighted with small circles:

• 1st stage;
• 2 lines;
• 3 lines;
• 4 queues .

The lifespan of such a pyramid depends on its popularity. More often, such schemes last from 4 months to 2 years. About 80–90% of investors remain at a loss. Examples of financial pyramids of this type: the first MMM JSC by S. Mavrodi, the investment company of B. Madoff, the iPhone pyramid in 2011. in Moscow, B. Tannenbaum’s project for investment in drugs to combat AIDS, “Vlastilina”, “Hoper-invest”.

Multi-level financial pyramids

Each entrant pays an entrance fee. This money is distributed among the upper levels of the pyramid: the participant who invited him and several higher ones. After this, the new investor must bring several people into the pyramid (usually from 2 to 5). They explain to him in an explicit or hidden form that in order to make money in the project, it is new participants who are needed. He will begin to receive money from them, that is, recoup his investments and make a profit.

In essence, this is a simple transfer of money, just like in a Ponzi scheme. As the depth increases, the number of participants increases very quickly and after 10–15 levels it will comprise the entire population of the entire country. Obviously, investors at lower levels will lose their money, since there will come a time when there will be no one to invite. Such people make up 85–90% of the entire financial pyramid. At this time, the organizer closes the project, taking the maximum amount of money from it.

Schematically, this structure looks like this:

Such organizations do not last long. The collapse (scam) of the pyramid occurs after 2–6 months. To increase this period, the organizers rename the name of the pyramid and move to another city to continue the “work.” Many people go into virtual space for better camouflage. Examples of such companies: MMM-2011, MMM-2012, Binar, Talk Fusion.

Matrix financial pyramids

These schemes are a complicated modification of multi-level pyramids. Usually there is a real product (for example, gold, silver, a set of weight loss products, etc.) although there may be a fictitious “entrepreneur training system” that costs money. These organizations belong to the new financial pyramids and many people sincerely believe that these are investments.

Let us illustrate the operation of such a structure using the example of the Emgoldex company:

Upon entry, a new participant under number 4 invests 540 Euros, enters the matrix and waits for the entire level to be filled. Next, the matrix is ​​divided into 2 of the same, the person rises to a higher level and must bring 2 people to fill part of the lower level. Perhaps the participant number 3 on the left who invited him will promise that he will find people instead of him. Investor No. 1 receives his reward - 7 thousand. Euros (less commission) in the form of a purchased gold bar, which he can sell back to the company. Essentially, 14 people chip in for a “gift” for one.

When dividing matrices (in Emgoldex they are called “tables”), participants gradually move towards their “top”. Participant #1 opens new table and falls into the lowest level. Accordingly, new participants are needed to fill out the matrices. The purchase of gold in an online store itself is legal, but the mechanism for collecting money and making a profit is a financial pyramid. As long as there are newcomers, the system will work.

The Emgoldex company itself is registered in Germany; gold purchases are carried out in Dubai. The belief that gold is rapidly growing in price and that this is what brings good interest to the investor is not supported by real facts. By all indications, this is a clever way of laundering money abroad. After all, as the number of people joining increases, there will be more and more tables. And the time will come when there will be no one to fill them.

It is worth noting that in matrix pyramids the conditions for receiving remuneration are vague: you have to wait until the matrix is ​​complete, and the company does not guarantee when this will happen or whether it will happen at all. Therefore, they function longer than other types of pyramids. But the “hour X” will come for them too. Most investors will be left at a loss.

A comparison of the characteristics of all 3 types of financial pyramids is presented in the table:

The emergence of the World Wide Web provided new opportunities for the creation and development of pyramids. The geographic reach of potential participants has increased significantly, and material costs for advertising have decreased. It is more difficult to track the movement of money through electronic payment systems. Registration of sites often occurs with fictitious persons or so that the owner’s data is not exposed. This makes it difficult to find a virtual fraudster and bring him to justice.

The largest financial pyramid in the Stock Generation network was organized by S. Mavrodi. Under the guise of gambling, shares of virtual companies were traded in this pyramid. The scenario was somewhat reminiscent of the MMM project, but on the website for many of these companies there was a disclaimer: prices can go both up and down. This “game” worked for 2 years, the number of victims ranged from 300 thousand to several million.

Mavrodi’s projects MMM-2011 and MMM-2012 are also large-scale. The virtual currency “Mavro” was invented, the purchase and sale of which was carried out in the first project through level managers - foremen, centurions, thousanders, etc. In the second project (referred to as the “mutual aid cash desk”), payments were made directly by the participants themselves. When the influx of deposits began to decline, delays in payments began to be noted, cases of theft of money from the system and the pyramid were closed. Mavrodi announced a restart several times, but there was no longer any trust in him and the scale of the following projects was much smaller.

Among active Internet users, the NewPro pyramid is known, offering to buy a key for 99 rubles and attract 3 newcomers. Next, a second level key is purchased. However, reaching the coveted level 28 is unrealistic. This will require more than 20 trillion people. Pyramids with a similar structure: SuperProgik, Power MLM, MoneyTrain.

Among the variety of online pyramids, HYIPs and seven “magic” wallets stand out in separate categories.

HYIPs are also pyramids

Investment projects with high returns according to the financial pyramid scheme are HYIPs (hype projects). They justify their interest by investing in shares, mutual funds, and trust management, but they may simply remain silent about their activities. There is an opinion that investing in HYIPs is one of the most profitable types of earnings if you invest your funds wisely. On the Internet you can even find articles where experienced participants in these projects talk about the correct investment strategy with the goal of “exiting the game in time” before the closure of the hype and at the same time making money.

In essence, all online pyramids go through the same stages life cycle, as their offline counterparts. Money is transferred from the pockets of some to the pockets of others and no further activity is carried out. Therefore, there will be people who actually make a profit from such investments. But you need to understand that this happens at the expense of other participants, whose total contributions are always greater.

There are websites of venture capital - investments with a high level of risk - companies that actually invest money in risky and high-yield financial instruments (such as Forex). In contrast, HYIPs have the following characteristics:

• colorful design of the resource and excessive advertising about the need for investments and a guarantee of return;
• the profitability is promised to be 0.5–10% per day, which is an unreasonably high figure, however, there are projects offering 15% per month and this feature is not applicable to them;
• fictitious investment objects or lack thereof;
• there is no information about the company (address, phone number, management), licenses, official registration and other documents or they may be fictitious;
• a complicated scheme for generating income, the essence of the project is not clearly clear.

To conduct financial transactions, HYIPs offer participants electronic payment systems Perfect Money, Bitcoin, Payeer, Qiwi and a number of others, which do not require personal identification. Most HYIPs do not work with WebMoney. Based on income level, all HYIP projects are divided into 3 categories:

• Low-income financial pyramids. They exist from 1.5 to 3 years and offer relatively low rates - up to 15% per annum per month (up to 0.5% per day). They are characterized by a well-thought-out pyramid scheme and large-scale advertising. Very similar to legal investment programs associated with asset trust management.
• Mid-income financial pyramids. They exist from 6 months to 1 year and offer returns of 15–60% per annum per month (up to 3% per day). They promote quickly, but reach the peak of popularity very soon.
• Highly profitable financial pyramids. They work for 2–5 weeks and offer rates above 60% per month (over 3% daily). They have aggressive, intrusive advertising like “Register quickly and get a lot of money!”, “Hurry, these rates are only for 1 month!” They close unexpectedly and try to attract as many new investors as possible.

In addition to the organizers of such projects themselves, so-called referral guides play an important role in the system. They spread information about the new project and encourage network users to become participants. The success of the project largely depends on their actions. The creators of HYIPs work with these “agents” through affiliate programs, that is, they award the “referral leaders” a certain percentage of investors’ deposits. The distributors themselves try to advertise the hype project more colorfully and in detail on social networks, forums and blogs. Often, investors are asked to promote hype themselves and participate in the referral program. This gives maximum promotion among online investors and a large influx of money.

For a certain period of time, the hype operates successfully, and some investors receive the promised interest due to the growing popularity of the project. But there comes a time when the volume of cash payments begins to exceed the volume of cash receipts. The hype is closed (scammed) and all the money remains with the organizers.

Magic wallets - a regular financial pyramid

A potential participant is invited to send a small amount (within 10–70 rubles) to seven electronic wallets in the WebMoney or Yandex-money system. After that, remove one of the top wallets, enter your own and post a message on 100–200 forums, message boards, and sites where people are looking for work. It is believed that if everything is done correctly, money will “fall out of a bag” because the next participants will send money to your wallet and also begin to promote information. In fact, this is an ordinary financial pyramid, and also uncontrolled.

There is no guarantee that the person who falls for this will not write down their wallet numbers in order to “squeeze out” more for themselves. But even if all participants follow the instructions and only 5 people respond to mass spam, the pyramid will grow to gigantic proportions. These 5 participants will also attract 5 newcomers, and the total earnings of the first person in theory will be 600–900 thousand rubles. By this time, there will be about 98 thousand participants in the pyramid. This figure grows exponentially: after 2 levels you need 2–3 million connected, then several tens of millions, then trillions, etc. It is clear that the entire population of the planet will cover only a few levels of such a pyramid.

Payment systems are actively fighting such messages, even to the point of blocking the wallet. Financial monitoring and security services monitor the distribution of such spam and identify pyramid schemes within a few days.

Financial pyramids in Russia (list)

The first pyramids came to Russia after the collapse of the USSR. JSC MMM became one of the largest and most famous. The company issued large volumes of shares (about 27 million) and tickets (about 72 million). Investors were promised 500–1000% per annum. Powerful propaganda in the media brought 10–15 million people into this financial pyramid. No documents were given to people. These “papers” were not allowed into free circulation; only the company itself could buy them back. The price of shares and tickets was set by the organizer S. Mavrodi himself.

Due to the hype, their cost rapidly increased and reached 125 thousand rubles. per share. In reality, these papers were not worth that much money. Rumors spread among investors about Mavrodi’s problems with paying taxes and illegal entrepreneurship. The ensuing panic led to a sharp drop (by more than 100 times) in the cost of shares and tickets. In fact, they turned into worthless “pieces of paper”. The office of MMM JSC was stormed by law enforcement agencies. Mavrodi was arrested and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. In total, he managed to earn about 3 billion rubles. Subsequently, this man created other pyramids.

In addition to MMM, major financial pyramids in the 90s and 2000s were:

• "Vlastilina";
• "Russian House Selenga";
• "Tibet";
• "Hoper-invest";
• "Rubin" ("SAN").

The number of victims amounted to millions, the lost amounts of investors varied from several million to trillions of rubles. As a result, almost all the organizers received real prison sentences, and only a few managed to escape.

Despite this, financial pyramids continued to exist in Russia. This is explained primarily by people’s desire to get “free” money, their gullibility and greed. The development of the Internet also played an important role. Participating in such roulette is comparable to playing in a casino: someone will get a “piece of the pie,” but the owners will earn money in any case, and most players will lose.

New financial pyramids include:

• Super Piggy Bank;
• Eleurus;
• GO-Partner$
• MMM-2012
• MMM-2016;
• SuperProgic;
• Give1 Get4;
• SETinBOX;
• Recyclix;
• Credex and a number of others.

For organizing pyramids in Russia, along with criminal penalties, administrative liability has been introduced (Article 14.62 of the Administrative Code).

Financial pyramids and network marketing

With the development of the industry (MLM business), financial pyramids increasingly began to disguise themselves as it.

The fact is that a multi-level structure occurs both in fraudulent schemes and in legal businesses.

But a closer look reveals significant differences. The network business is absolutely legal (according to the decision of the US court in 1979 against the Amway company) and is based on creating a network of consultants (distributors) to promote goods from the manufacturer to the buyer. A comparison of features is presented in the table:

What to do if you have already invested money in a financial pyramid?

First of all, you should calm down and soberly assess the situation. First you need to contact the office of the company where you gave the money or the person who invited you. The chances of getting your money back increase if you have documents confirming the receipt or transfer of money.

If the return is refused, hint to the scammers that you plan to contact the police and prosecutor's office. And if this does not help, then immediately contact these authorities. It is recommended to provide detailed information about the scammers: external signs of the people, what product they are promising, the name of the organization, office address, etc. There is a possibility that by the time law enforcement agencies begin to act, the “businessmen” may disappear.

Despite the illegality, financial pyramids will continue to be created, trapping gullible citizens. To recognize them, you need cold calculation and an understanding of the essence of how pyramid schemes work.

IN Lately More and more people are becoming victims of financial pyramids. In reality, recognizing a financial pyramid is not so difficult, you just need certain knowledge.

Recently, more and more people are becoming victims of financial pyramids. In reality, recognizing a financial pyramid is not so difficult; you only need certain knowledge.

Financial Pyramide is an organization that seeks to attract people's money and invest it in a certain project. However, in reality, no investment activity is carried out; the promised payments to participants are made by replenishing the pyramid’s budget with funds from new participants.

What do financial pyramids do? They attract money from the population, promising a fairly high interest rate and, accordingly, a high level of profitability. In addition, the owners of financial pyramids claim that the money will be invested in successful projects, often real estate or currency market Forex. In fact, no investments are being made.

The interest promised to participants is paid from the funds that again come from new participants in the financial pyramid. But with all financial pyramids there comes a time when it goes bankrupt. This happens for the reason that there are no more new participants, and the old ones do not want to invest, therefore, there is nothing to pay interest with. As a result, you lose all the money you once invested there. It is never known in advance how long a financial pyramid will last.

What is the danger of financial pyramids?

1. You can quite easily and quickly lose all your invested money, because a financial pyramid can cease to exist the next day after opening and receiving money from participants.

2. The outcome of such organizations is always unpredictable, so you are unlikely to be able to guess when to withdraw your invested money so as not to become a victim of deception.

3. If you make your profit, it will be solely at the expense of the money of other people, who will subsequently lose their money.

Signs of a financial pyramid

- guaranteed income. If any company assures you that you will receive guaranteed income, then there is a high probability that this is a financial pyramid. In accordance with our legislation, no organization has the right to guarantee an income higher than the refinancing rate (with the exception of banks, but they rarely guarantee a 10-11% return). Therefore, if you are guaranteed income of more than 20% per annum, it makes sense to be wary;

Now financial pyramids have become somewhat smarter and more cunning: they have stopped using the phrase “guaranteed profitability”. To attract customers, they turn to history and statistics: they demonstrate the company’s income over the course of a week, a month, or a year. If, according to the data, during this time every day the organization receives significant income, and there is not a single unprofitable period, then most likely this is a financial pyramid. It is impossible to obtain high income over a long period of time in financial markets; there will certainly be unprofitable periods and unprofitable transactions;

Most financial pyramids say that they invest money in the Forex market and promise a very high income - about 30% per annum. Of course, the Forex market can bring big profits, but you can also face big losses. Often financial pyramids do not withdraw money to Forex;

Payment of commissions. Pyramid leaders are ready to reward their members for attracting new clients.

Reasons for widespread use

1. Fairly simple organization. The organizer only needs an office or a created website, as well as the ability to accept and pay out money. You can say and write anything to yourself.

2. Absolute impunity. At any time, the organization may suddenly close its operations, and participants will not have the opportunity to return their invested money.

3. There is a great desire of people to get easy and quick benefits. At the same time, most investors do not have financial literacy and do not understand the principle of operation and features of financial instruments.

Currently, most financial pyramids exist thanks to the Internet, because it is much easier to organize your activities there.

If you are already a member of any financial pyramid, try to withdraw all your investments from there as quickly as possible. Be careful yourself and protect your loved ones, friends and acquaintances from the trap called a financial pyramid.

Larisa Glushkova

The expert spoke about how modern fraudulent schemes work.

According to surveys by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, about one million Russians have invested in microfinance organizations. At the same time, hundreds of such MFOs operate illegally; in addition, the number of shadow companies that attract funds from citizens, counting on their poor financial literacy, continues to grow.

This year, 120 financial pyramids were closed in Russia, last year - 200. This scheme is already more than 300 years old, during one of the first pyramids, the “South Sea Company”, Isaac Newton and the author of “Gulliver’s Adventures” Jonathan Swift suffered. We know this system thanks to Sergei Mavrodi and his MMM.

Experts talked about what kind of financial pyramids exist now, and the 360 ​​TV channel compiled a cheat sheet on how to recognize scammers.

Is it possible to make money on a financial pyramid?

Varieties of financial pyramids are also called hype or matrix. The system offers excess profits, for example, 70% per month. The investor agrees and invests his, say, 10 thousand rubles. This money immediately goes to pay interest to those who came to the pyramid before the investor, and a month later they give you 17 thousand from the pockets of those who invested money after the investor arrived, and the next ones will return the money to them.

Collapse is inevitable, the pyramid earns nothing, money is not invested in the production and sale of goods, it simply circulates and is redistributed in favor of those who founded the structure. The cycle repeats until the flow of people willing to invest ends. Or until the founder or law enforcement authorities decide to close the organization.

After this, most investors simply lose their money, only the top of the pyramid receives income - those who organized it and invested money first, but were not seduced by further profits and withdrew it.

The investor is also a scammer

“The majority of financial pyramid investors are left with nothing; they overestimate their capabilities and knowledge. Even if a participant in a financial pyramid still has some funds left after its liquidation, this in any case cannot be called income. It is worth understanding that this is money taken from investors who made the transaction after you, in other words, theft. Naturally, taxes cannot be paid on this income, and since this income is illegal, it can simply be confiscated. We have administrative liability for attracting people to financial pyramids and advertising of such enterprises, and criminal liability for organizing them,” Marat Safiulin, manager of the federal public-state fund for the protection of the rights of investors and shareholders, comments on the scheme. Attracting new clients to the pyramid is often a condition for the investor to make a profit.

Fines and deadlines

In the Russian Federation, fines are provided for the public dissemination of information about the attractiveness of participation in financial pyramids, including through the media and the Internet.

For citizens it is set at a level from five to 50 thousand rubles, for officials - from 20 to 100 thousand rubles, for legal entities- from 500 to a million rubles. For organizing a financial pyramid criminal liability- up to nine years in prison.

Why do people invest in pyramid schemes?

There are dozens of high-profile revelations of financial pyramids in history. But new organizations always find new clients. Safiulin believes that this is due to human psychology: “There are two reasons: a low level of financial literacy, that is, people simply do not understand what they are getting into. The second is people who are risk-averse, understand that there is a financial pyramid in front of them, but want to take risks and think that they will be smart enough to withdraw money at the right time. People with such a mentality, according to international experts, range from 8 to 15%.”

How modern financial pyramids are disguised

To understand how the organizers of pyramids disguise themselves, it is enough to consider the example of a similar organization that collapsed in 2007 in China. It was called "Wang Feng's Ant Farm". Citizens were offered to purchase an ant farm for 1.5 thousand dollars; instructions for feeding ants were attached to it.

Every three months it was proposed to hand over multiplied ants, which were supposedly needed for pharmacological production. The promised income was 30% per year. In reality, there was no medical production; investors were paid from the pockets of newly arriving farmers.

The company collapsed when one million Chinese were diligently raising ants, new investors did not come, and therefore new funds were not poured in, with which it was possible to pay off the previous buyers of ant farms.

Financial pyramids on the Internet

Similar schemes have been implemented on the Internet and now experts consider, for example, recyclix.com to be one of them. This company has a wonderful legend: you allegedly invest money in the purchase of ordinary garbage and receive 14% per month from the sale of already recycled waste.

Nothing is known about the enterprise itself; investors are paid money at the expense of newly arriving investors. justrub.pro offers earnings from placement, but there are no advertisers in the system, and to start working you need 200 rubles, for which they promise 1000% income per day.

Resources such as webtransfer.com, globalintergold.com, beonpush.com, business-angels-inc.com, superkopilka.com and MMM-2016 are also called cover for pyramids.

Signs of a financial pyramid

There is nothing they can do to explain the promised super-profits now: investment systems, secret access to banking operations. The legend can be anything, but there is no specific information or documentary base. As a rule, there is no product, or it is very dubious and sold at an inflated price.

The investor will definitely be required to make investments (maybe not immediately) and will be promised a percentage of attracted clients, as well as an income of 1% per day. There must be bright advertising; pyramids are often recommended by show business stars, popular bloggers or beautiful girls driving an expensive car, they talk in videos about how they changed their lives with the help of a miraculous service.

Why MMM-2016 is not closed and the organizers are not punished

“The procedure [for closing a pyramid] is extremely difficult due to the fact that to close such an organization it is necessary to initiate a criminal case, and to initiate it - the victims, that is, those who lose money during the liquidation of such an organization. And when this happens, the evidence has already been erased, and the organizers are abroad, along with the funds received. To completely suppress the emergence of such organizations, the authorities simply do not have enough hands, because this is a long-term job; an entire department must work to solve one such case. But the placement of such a site abroad is not a reason not to react. If criminal activity affects citizens Russian Federation, then the investigation is mandatory, although its implementation is hampered by limited powers on the territory of other countries,” says Petr Skoblikov, doctor of legal sciences and former employee of the operational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Daria Dementieva