HBSA

It’s interesting that Madoff is being prosecuted and yet there are no press reports of executives in the banking industry who helped perpetuate the current global financial crisis have been called before a jury as yet.

yes really the ponzi scheme is very useful for the people.through this scheme people can easily yearn a lot in the short period of time.

Well – you’re right, ponzi schemes definitely make people money in the short term. More of the point is that they always collapse – they always lose people money in the long term. On top of that, I wanted to illustrate that ponzi schemes have been around forever, and that an easy way to spot one is that it only requires money – there is no product or obligation of action on the part of the investor required to reap a return, and there is nothing actually purchased during the process.

I agree with Mel. There are several glaring mistakes that taxpayers are going to foot the bill for here in the U.S. and no one is even on trial. Bundling mortgage securities and selling them like hotcakes made people rich until they found out those that were responsible for the notes were unemployed, overextended, and were defaulting without a second thought. Now MLM businesses on the other hand are lucritive if you know what you are doing, but you still have to apply yourself consistently. There’s a big difference between get rich quick and get rich smart.

People will always look for a way to get rich quick. And those people usually know something is up with the way they will make the money. This is very similar to how gambling works, you never know when to get off the train. It will be hard to prove that those investing knew otherwise though…

This is very informative. I’ve always wondered what really constituted a Ponzi scheme and how their accounting practices are really what can change them from being a legitimate business to a “scheme”. I wonder if the change from GAAP to the international standard will affect this at all.

Donald Trump has found himself in this situation a few times where if he owed far more in phantom cash than what he was worth.

I am wondering to what extent our Federal government is engaged in a ponzi scheme of sorts in that we have a multi-trillion dollar debt that if all our lenders asked for the money now, we couldn’t pay.

This is an interesting post. There are always new Ponzi schemes popping up and one has to be super careful what you are investing your money in.

I saw a recent post on craiglist where somebody was attempting to do the same thing. They were looking for investors to invest 1M in their company and then be repaid in 1 month and see the money double in a year. Unbelievable… hopefully nobody falls for it.

I never knew what a Ponzi scheme was, or even heard of the term before. I have heard of things like them happening though, and I wish that more people would say something about it rather than keep quiet because they are too embarrassed they fell for a scam. This was very informative though and I am glad I read it.

The thing that bothers me is that people who rip off investors to the tune of millions or even a billion, don’t spend much time in jail, if at all.

There’s something really wrong that people can negatively affect that many lives and they don’t have to spend the rest of their life in prison.

White collar crimes of this extreme are as dangerous (and probably even more so) as some guy selling homegrown weed.

I knew about ponzi skims but never knew history behind it.Thanks for this information.Internet is full of ponzi skim website now a days.Its may be due to ongoing slowdown world over.

Ponzi schemes are terrible. Nice, timely post!

I haven’t heard atleast something about ponzi skims and there’s something wrong.You have provided a lot of useful information.it’s interesting..readers please take care of it ..

I love this web site and the article about the Ponzi Scheme.I knew there were alot of money making scemesi n every industy but i nener had a mane to place on one.I think this article explain all about the ups and downs involve in the Ponzi scheme and it sounds very risky.The Ponzi Scheme seem quite similar to the Money Pyramids Schemes that alwas seem to fail.I would not get involved in these schemes and would strongly stear my friend and relatives away from them, it sound like no matter where your place is in this Ponzi Scheme you will probably loose your money and possibly your freedom if your caught holding the Ponzi .Thank You for all the great information and good luck with your website.

Indeed legit MLM’s get a bad rap because of people like Madoff. Too many people see MLM’s as “get rich quick” which it is not.

This is very good summery and good to know coming form the website who advertises home based work related information. I have seen so many work from home schemes that literally take your money and disappear within no time. Thanks for making us aware of these things.

You’re welcome – best to be aware of these things now, as they are only going to become more prevalent in the future.

It’s frustrating to know that people are still doing this to this day even after all the warnings. It’s even worse knowing that people are still falling for it. I remember someone calling an MLM I did one year a Ponzi scheme because the poor soul didn’t know any better. It took awhile to get the idea through that a true MLM that is legal is not a Ponzi scheme or a pyramid. Thanks for spreading the word.

The interesting thing about Madoff is he was able to carry the scheme on for so long. I agree that he should go to jail. But you need to either give him credit for being able to pull it off for so long, or discredit everyone else who didn’t have the guts to call his bluff.

I didn’t realize there was so many people who had been busted for this stuff. I did hear about Maddoff and was shocked at the enormity of it. Then was even more shocked that he tried to send everyone he know money so he could save some of it.

This type of scam continues irrespective of the country and time and people fall prey to them. Perhaps our city is going to witness one similar to this.

This ponzi scam is i guess oldest type of fraud.But still people keep trying these nonsense things somehow.History keep repeating not only on wall street but in these ponzi schemes also.

I think people forget how many Ponzi schemes there are out there until a big case hits the news. There are a lot of people that get away with it just because they operate on a smaller basis. Many of the work at home jobs found online are pretty close to being ponzi schemes.

Greed is the guiding force in a ponzi scheme. People want to get more than they’re entitled to, and there’s always someone who will take advantage of that greed.

Thanks so much for explaining what a ponzi scheme is. I had no clue, even tho it has been on the news for many weeks.

Can anyone tell me if they agree that our own bailout is a type of ponzi scheme

Is our current canadian housing price appreciation a ponzi scheme?