An illegal investment scheme in which investors are promised impossibly high...
An illegal financial scheme in which: (1) participants are recruited by chain letter, by friends, or at meetings, (2) a list of n names is displayed or distributed (often sold) to new participants, and (3) the payment of an "ante" to the top name on the list by new participants is notarized or supervised. Developed from money chain letters in May 1935. See Springfield5.
or Ponzi Scheme A money-making opportunity popularized by Ponzi and illegal in the United States in most forms. This scheme involves an individual convincing others to pay him for the right to solicit others for payment in turn. By recruiting more people than the number of people you pay for this right, you supposedly make money. In reality, the people at the bottom of the pyramid never get paid by anyone and lose. Such schemes are strictly forbidden at most Internet sites, and will cause you and your system administrator great grief if you try to propagate such a scheme by e-mail or over the newsgroups. Occasionally, merchandise sales are involved (see MLM for a similar legitimate opportunity).
An illegal, fraudulent scheme in which a con artist contrives victims to invest by promising an extraordinary return but simply uses newly invested funds to pay off any investors who insist on terminating their investment. KEY TERM
Pyramid schemes are one of the commonest types of investment scam. The basis of a pyramid scheme is that victims: pay to participate in the scheme and, are promised a reward for recruiting further "investors" into the scheme. As with a Ponzi scheme, ...... more on: Pyramid scheme
a fraudulent scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to the person who recruited them while expecting to receive payments from the persons they recruit; when the number of new recruits fails to sustain the hierarchical payment structure the scheme collapses with most of the participants losing the money they put in
a business arrangement in which one makes money by recruiting a number of people into the pyramid
a business in which you are recruited to supposedly sell a product or service
a form of fraud similar in some ways to a Ponzi scheme, relying as it does on a disbelief in financial reality, including the hope of an extremely high rate of return
a fraud based on recruiting an increasing number of investors
a fraudulent investing plan and has cost many people worldwide their hard-earned savings
a fraudulent investment instrument with which unscrupulous promoters intentionally mislead unsophisticated people
a fraudulent money-making scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them
a multi-level marketing (MLM) program that cannot
an illegal arrangement where the members who joined earliest will benefit the most, and often at the expense of those who join later
an illegal investment structure in which the funds of new members are used to pay off old investors
an illegal plan in which a large number of people at the bottom of a pyramid pay money to relatively few people at the top
an illegal promotion in which many people at the bottom of the pyramid pay money to a few at the top
an illegal scheme in most countries of the world, whereby a person earns money by only signing up people without any sales of products
an illegal scheme to make money off people and give them nothing in return
an illegal type of multi-level marketing
an investment scheme in which a participant primarily makes money by recruiting members who, in turn, make money by enticing others to join
an organization in which the members obtain their monetary benefits primarily from the recruitment of new members rather than selling goods and services to the public
a phony business, similar to a chain letter , that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme
a Recruiting Game A person is paid to recruit others
a scam masquerading as a legitimate network marketing opportunity
a scam, regardless of whether you get anything out of it
a scheme in which a hierarchy is created by people joining under others who joined previously, where those who join, make payments to those above them in the hierarchy, with the expectation of being able to collect payments from those who join below
a type of MLM, but it is illegal and contrary to the competiotion Act of Canada
a variation on the MLM model
A scam (illegal in most countries) that takes multi-level-marketing to an ignoble conclusion by relying on the "greater fool" principle. In a pyramid scheme, the originators of the scheme rely on the income generated by the recruiting of new members (the "greater fools") by existing members to compensate the people higher up. Since these kinds of schemes are always predicated on exponential growth, the supply of fools is quickly used up and most people involved end up losing their shirts - often sooner rather than later! Pyramid schemes have never been an accepted form of affiliate marketing, and this entry is included here purely as a warning.
An illegal 'opportunity' where the focus is on recruitment rather than on the selling of products and services.
A pyramid scheme is a system of selling goods where commissions are paid to recruit new sellers. The commissions are based on the number of sellers recruited. The right to sell the goods is sold to an increasing number of sellers at lower and lower levels.
A plan that promises large profits based primarily on recruiting others to join its program and not based on profits from any genuine investment or sale of goods to the public.
a type of investment scheme designed to steal from investors by having them continuously enlist others to help pay, such as chain letters
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes have existed for at least a century. Matrix schemes use the same fraudulent non-sustainable system as a pyramid; here, the victims pay to join a waiting list for a desirable product which only a fraction of them can ever receive.