Ponzi schemes alive and well

Almost 103 years ago, in December 1919, swindler, and former bank manager, Charles Ponzi was promising to double the money of those who invested in his newly founded company.

A lucky few, who had gone in first, did indeed manage that. The rest? Well, they should have been more careful. Their money was used to pay the earlier investors.

At its height, $1 million was invested each week in this “Ponzi scheme.” After its inevitable collapse, in the summer of 1920, its enterprising founder spent some years in jail before coming back in the 1930s with a similar scheme involving useless Florida swampland. He spent seven more years in jail.

Over the subsequent decades, gullible people looking to get rich quick have never failed to fall for a variety of Ponzi schemes.

Until it collapsed last May, Wind Media was promising its more than 10,000 members in Greece easy money if they would only “like” recommended videos and websites. The members were left saddled with losses ranging from a few hundred to several thousand euros.

Since then, almost a dozen “passive income” platforms have sprouted online. They tout early membership as the best option. They still use the same means (likes for YouTube videos and online sites) but also sell “membership packages” costing from €100 to €10,000, promising a steady monthly income stream ranging from €14 to €1,400 – a monthly return on investment of 14%, that is. Subscribers are supposed to spend five minutes per day, at most, liking videos. One such platform says payments are made from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

This platform, with an actual address in Scotland, touted as its advantage and supposed trustworthiness the fact that the clicks were to be made on financial firms’ promotional material.

Other Ponzi platforms work through gambling; one rewards those who would make wrong predictions about sports events. “A time investment of no more than eight minutes per day is required; the chances of failure are 1 in 16,” it said, presumably with a straight face.

Another, short-lived, site, Rapid Minerals, promised subscribers rentals of one or more bitcoin mining machines.