Social consequences of financial pyramids. Important signs of a financial pyramid

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

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

The main condition for financial pyramids is to attract new people to your structure so that there are more lower layers - you can learn more about this on this website www.achupryna.com. Since the shape of the pyramid is decreasing, this is exactly what is connected with this system. At the top, at the head, is the leader and initiator of this whole process. He gets the biggest profit and all other layers obey him. Below him are the deputies and they also receive funds for their work, and considerable ones.

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, 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 do not invest anything. Just for joining the company, recommending it to your friends, acquaintances and any other people. Later, you are told that you can replace your usual purchases or expenses with expenses in this firm or company, under the guise of honesty and a genuine interest in saving you. The most paradoxical thing in this situation is that many people, knowing what they are doing, do it anyway.

For more motivation, they send you financial reports, in which you do not understand anything, but at the same time you see huge numbers with the inscription "profit". Since many people are now experiencing financial difficulties, they boldly buy into such things, not knowing where these reports come from and what they actually do.

Some kind of optical illusion is used by the founders of financial pyramids in their practice all the time. People who do not understand this are constantly falling for such tricks without realizing it.

You will be constantly motivated by profits, meetings of happy investors and other things that will naturally affect any person who is experiencing financial problems. Willy-nilly, a person begins to believe in the effectiveness of such methods, which is quite obvious.

At meetings and in messages, you are guaranteed a happy and rich life, kindness and understanding in the team, the opportunity, without leaving home, to receive ten times more than ordinary ordinary employees in good firms.

Thinking about what exactly they offer 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 qualitatively, correctly and legally deceived.

Subscribe to us

Recently, more and more people become victims of financial pyramids. In fact, it is not so difficult to recognize a financial pyramid, only certain knowledge is needed.

Recently, more and more people become victims of financial pyramids. In fact, it is not so difficult to recognize a financial pyramid, only certain knowledge is needed.

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

What do financial pyramids do? They attract people's money, while 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 investment is being made.

The interest promised to participants is paid from the funds that again come from new participants in the financial pyramid. But for all pyramid schemes, there comes a time when it becomes bankrupt. This is due to the fact that there are no more new participants, and the old ones do not want to invest, respectively, there is nothing to pay interest with. As a result, you lose all the money that you once invested there. You never know in advance how long a pyramid scheme will last.

What is the danger of financial pyramids?

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

2. The final of such organizations is always unpredictable, so you are unlikely to be able to guess when it is worth withdrawing your invested money so as not to become a victim of fraud.

3. If you get your profit, it is only at the expense of the money of other people who 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 pyramid scheme. In accordance with our legislation, no organization has the right to guarantee income higher than the refinancing rate (with the exception of banks, but they rarely give a guarantee of 10-11% return). Therefore, if you are guaranteed incomes of more than 20% per annum, it makes sense to be wary;

Now financial pyramids have become somewhat smarter and more cunning: they have ceased to use the phrase "guaranteed profitability". To attract customers, they turn to history and statistics: they show the company's income for a week, a month, a year. If, according to the data, during this time the organization receives significant income every day, and there is not a single unprofitable period, then most likely this is a pyramid scheme. It is impossible to receive high income in the financial markets for a long time, there will definitely 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 a lot of income, but you can also face big losses. Often, financial pyramids do not withdraw money to Forex;

Payment of commissions. Pyramid leaders are willing to reward their members for attracting new customers.

Reasons for widespread

1. Pretty simple organization. The organizer needs only an office or a created site, as well as the ability to accept and pay money. You can say and write about yourself whatever you want.

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

3. Great desire of people to get easy and fast benefits. At the same time, most depositors do not have financial literacy and do not understand the principle of operation and features of financial instruments.

Currently, most of the financial pyramids exist precisely 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 soon as possible. Be careful yourself and protect your loved ones, friends and acquaintances from the trap called a pyramid scheme.

Larisa Glushkova

Introduction

In the mid-90s, Russia went through a period of mass creation of financial pyramids. This period has become an integral part of the history of Russia in transition. Nevertheless, the Russian financial pyramids were not a specific discovery of their founders, but became another page in the history of the emergence of such organizations on the world stage. Basically, the issue of financial pyramids in Russia, the reasons for the participation of people in financial pyramids, the significance of these organizations for the country's economy were studied.

The emergence of the pyramids

According to the situation in which the pyramid is born, financial pyramids can be divided into two groups. Organizations of the first group initially appear as financial pyramids. (for example, AO MMM). Organizations of the second group become financial pyramids due to certain reasons at one of the stages of their development. Initially, they were created as absolutely normal companies, financial structures and could not become financial pyramids. (for example, the GKO system in Russia). Among the conditions in which financial pyramids of the first group arise, four main ones can be distinguished.

1. First of all, there must be a market for stocks or securities. The market makes it possible to exist the main instrument of financial pyramids: securities or shares, with significant fluctuations in their prices. In Russia, in the early 1990s, paper money and shares appeared, and manipulations with them became possible. Of course, paper money securities existed in Russia (as part of the USSR) before, but there was no securities market within the country, there were no shares - the enterprises belonged to the state.

2. It is also necessary that there are no legislative restrictions on the organization of the activities of financial structures operating on a pyramidal principle. It should be noted that financial pyramids, as a rule, arise absolutely legally, on legal grounds. At the same time, legislative restrictions, most often, do not exist due to lack of experience. But at the same time, it must be said that, as the researchers note, “improvement of some laws is not capable of putting a damper on financial fraud, since it essentially prohibits not a financial pyramid as such, but only certain operations that are most often used to create financial soap bubbles. Thus, their appearance is complicated, but not canceled.” Nevertheless, in the conditions of the existing “anti-pyramidal” legislation, financial pyramids of the second group appear more often than the first. So, in Russia in 1994-1995 there was no law prohibiting the schemes most commonly used in the creation of financial pyramids.

3. Third important condition emergence of financial pyramids is the ability of the population to make savings (buy shares, securities), that is, a certain level of material well-being of the population. By 1994, there was some improvement in the material condition of the population in Russia: the real income per capita increased, the former frantic inflation rates slightly decreased, privatization took place, the country began to enter into market economy(the first stage of the transition period has passed), the population “woke up” a little after the shock of 1991-1993. As a rule, pyramids of the first group count on households as investment units. For example, the main contributors of JSC "MMM" were ordinary contributors, including pensioners and the disabled. Therefore, when assessing the probability of the emergence of financial pyramids, one should pay attention to the motives for savings and the propensity to save the population.

4. Finally, the last basic condition is the presence of the population's propensity to invest in financial institutions, including financial pyramids.

Pyramids of the first group

First of all, a financial pyramid can sometimes be divided into several smaller pyramids. So, the period of existence of JSC "MMM" "is divided into four main stages - the first pyramid, the second pyramid, the third pyramid and the completion of the first two. At the same time, each stage of the big pyramid (JSC "MMM") - a small pyramid - is similar to another stage. These stages differ mainly only in duration. The development of the financial pyramid of the first group can be divided into 4 main periods:

1. The first period includes the emergence of the company and the growth of its shares on the market to their maximum value. It can be called the period of the construction of the pyramid. It is the longest period of her life, the period of her "well-being". For example, for the first pyramid of JSC "MMM" this period lasted from February 1994 to mid-July of the same year.

2. The second period is the moment of maximum value of the company's shares. This is the "top of the pyramid". It, unlike the construction period, does not last long. AO MMM experienced this period for about two or three weeks in July 1994.

3. The third period - the collapse of the financial pyramid. During this, as a rule, short period, the price of the company's shares collapses to its original, and sometimes even lower, value. The first pyramid of JSC "MMM" passed this period from July 26, 1994 to July 29, 1994.

4. The fourth period is the post-pyramidal period. During this period, the affected shareholders hold meetings and rallies demanding compensation for the damage suffered and punishment of the guilty (the board of the pyramid company), the government carries out arrests, various checks and often confiscation of the company's property in order to find the perpetrators and return the missing money. This is sometimes followed by the payment of compensation to shareholders. For the first pyramid of JSC MMM, this is the period from the end of July, when the first rallies begin, until mid-October.

Pyramids of the second group

The pyramid of the second group can also be divided into 4 periods:

1. The first period is the period when the financial structure is not a pyramid. It can be called the non-pyramidal period, or the pre-pyramidal period. It can take quite a long time. GKO and OFZ go through this period from 1994-1995 to 1997.

2. Period two - the issue of securities and the transformation financial structure into a financial pyramid. It can be called the pyramidal period. The beginning of this period will be marked by a significant depletion of the financial resources of the company, the structure that pays dividends. The issue of securities is undertaken by her to improve her financial position. By the end of the pyramidal period financial position company, the structure is deteriorating, it faces the question of paying dividends on securities. The GKO system went through this period from 1997 to the summer of 1998.

3. The third period - the collapse of the built pyramid. It is accompanied by the liquidation of the financial structure, declaring it bankrupt. For the GKO system, this is August 1998.

4. The fourth period is the post-pyramidal period. It largely coincides with the post-pyramidal period of the pyramids of the first group. Its peculiarity is the lack of payment of compensation, since the monetary resources of the financial structure are depleted to zero, and compensation, as a rule, is paid from confiscated property. There was practically no post-pyramidal period in Russia, since the collapse of the debt pyramid was accompanied by a crisis situation in the country, the freezing of most accounts, the devaluation of the ruble, and rising unemployment, as a result of which measures were taken to overcome the crisis, rather than looking for the guilty.

Influence

Financial pyramids have an impact on economic situation in the country. Their main consequence, as a rule, is a drop in the savings activity of the population, especially regarding investing money in shares and securities, due to a drop in confidence in those investment institutions. Thus, the volume of investments, which play an important role in the economy, is reduced. Here is what A. V. Anikin writes about the consequences of the collapse of the Mississippi Company of John Law in France at the beginning of the 18th century: “The collapse of the Law system had a great impact on the economy of France in the 18th century, right up to the revolution at the end of the century. The trauma of the collapse of the Mississippi scam and the entire system of Lo slowed down the development of banking and the growth of industry”

Similar consequences were caused by financial pyramid schemes in Russia. After the events of 1994-1995, the composition of household savings changed, and the share of savings in shares and securities decreased. The desire of the population to make savings in this form has also decreased. At the same time, according to a survey by the Public Opinion Foundation in July 1997, 74.5% of those who invested in financial pyramids consider themselves to have lost money as a result of investing, and only 9.4% of those who invested in financial pyramids consider themselves to have received profits from investments. It was the previous negative investment experience, which is one of the most important factors that can influence the current choice of investment strategies by a particular household, that affected the decline in savings in securities and stocks. Another consequence of financial pyramids is the adoption of a law on their prohibition, the creation of a system for protecting the rights of depositors. In Russia, on November 4, 1994, the Federal Commission for the Securities Market of Russia (FCSM) was established, whose functions include the development of uniform standards for insurance and guarantees in the securities market, and the creation of a system for protecting the rights of depositors. The creation of the FCSM was the state's reaction to the surge in the emergence of financial pyramids.3 In England, in June 1720, the Act on " soap bubbles”, which prohibited the establishment of joint-stock companies without an official license under the threat of fines and imprisonment. This law was aimed at protecting depositors from medium-sized financial pyramids.

Financial pyramids in Russia

In the mid-1990s, several organizations appeared in Russia at once, operating on the principle of pyramidal payments and posing as joint-stock companies: Chara, Tibet, Russian House of Selenga, and others. But, of course, MMM JSC became the most grandiose and scandalous of them.

"MMM" managed to force the Russians to open such secret savings, up to which tax police it would be impossible to reach. And citizens voluntarily carried all this money to the Mavrodi company. According to the Federal Fund for the Protection of the Rights of Depositors and Shareholders, licenses from the Central Bank of Russia to attract Money the company did not have. But despite this, the pyramid continued to successfully pump money out of the population for years.

It is “MMM” that first of all comes to the mind of a Russian when he hears the word “pyramid. "MMM" Sergei Mavrodi created back in 1988, shortly after his release from prison. JSC "MMM" was registered on October 20, 1992 in a branch of the Moscow Registration Chamber. And already in August 1994, Sergei Mavrodi was arrested for concealing income from the Invest-Consulting company he headed.

In the media, including on television, there is a powerful advertisement for a new joint-stock company that promises to pay the largest dividends. Soon, the share price begins to rise, and by July it rises 5 times compared to February (from 25,000 rubles per share to 125,000 rubles per share). JSC "MMM" is becoming extremely popular. At the main point of JSC "MMM" (Varshavskoye shosse, 26), very soon large queues of people wishing to purchase shares begin to line up, the number of which in July reaches an average of 300-600 people, and the head of JSC "MMM" - Mavrodi, is one of the leading entrepreneurs in Russia . In July, the collapse of the financial pyramid comes: on the 29th, the share price collapses from 125 thousand to 1 thousand. On August 4, S. Mavrodi is arrested. But a week later (August 5) after the collapse of the first pyramid, new tickets of MMM JSC go on sale, and the construction of a new pyramid begins. The share price gradually begins to grow - from 500 rubles to 5 thousand rubles by mid-September. At the end of August, a collection of "voluntary donations" is announced. In mid-September 1994, a serious turning point occurs. A large batch of tickets from MMM JSC is thrown onto the market, which causes a sharp decrease in their rate and the closure of the point of sale. Panic begins among the shareholders, they begin to hand over tickets. In the last ten days of September, the ticket rate increases quite sharply. However, already on September 29, it again sharply decreases (from 7-8 thousand to 600 rubles). And on October 5, all reception points of MMM JSC are closed. A little earlier, on September 24, Mavrodi was approved as a candidate for elections to the State Duma. On November 1, 1994, S. P. Mavrodi, elected as a deputy of the State Duma, opens points of sale and announces the introduction of a two-month “transition period regime”. All previously issued promotions and tickets are frozen, and a new series of JSC MMM tickets is issued at the initial rate of 1,000 rubles. New tickets are being bought quite actively. Throughout November 1994, the rate of the latest issue of JSC MMM tickets rises quite steadily from 1,000 to 3,500 rubles. However, already on December 1, Mavrodi changes the rules of quotations, introducing a "floating" rate, determined by short term balance supply and demand. As a result, the stock price quickly falls to its original level. During December, the exchange rate drops to 500 rubles. From December 20, 1994 to January 3, 1995, JSC MMM arranges holidays, and during this period the share price drops to 170 rubles. In the future, the rate gradually grows and by mid-March reaches a thousand-ruble mark, but on March 16-17, relatively massive changes occur, and the rate drops to 200 rubles.

March 20 Mavrodi introduces a new "stabilization regime". Tickets of a new "special series" are introduced and tickets of the previous series are frozen at the same time. At first, the rate grows, but after a sharp rise it falls again (by 4.5 times). On April 24, tickets for a new series are again introduced and all previous ones are frozen, but already on May 4, the rate of tickets for a new series drops by 4 times. On May 10, 1995, a series of "preferred tickets" is introduced, which are subject to fixed quotations and sales volume limits. Operations with tickets of previous series, frozen until June 20, will not be resumed within the specified period. The activity around the points of sale of JSC MMM is gradually fading away: the financial pyramid is ending. The number of victims of the financial game of MMM JSC in Russia is estimated by experts from 5 to 24 million, but no one knows the real number of victims. It should be noted that ordinary investors, including pensioners and the disabled, became the shareholders of MMM JSC. And it is these population groups that have suffered the most.

Wherever Sergei Mavrodi was hiding, he did it very well. Until January 2003, law enforcement agencies could not get on his trail. By that time, many of his colleagues in the pyramids had already been on trial. Thus, the head of the Tibet financial pyramid, Vladimir Dryamov, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The founders of the financial pyramid "Selenga Russian House" Alexander Salomadin and Sergey Gruzin were sentenced to nine years in prison each with a term in a colony general regime. And the head of Vlastelina, Valentina Solovieva, managed during this time to serve her five years in a colony by a court decision and again do the same business, retaining all the same architectural predilections. In the city of Podolsk near Moscow, she established a kind of CJSC Interline, which sells cars and operates on the principle of a pyramid. Mavrodi Jr., Vyacheslav, and even Sergei Mavrodi's wife, Elena, also came under court. Sergei himself was put on the international wanted list. However, nothing was heard of him, although they seemed to be looking for him very diligently. In September 1997, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared MMM bankrupt. The damage caused by MMM to millions of depositors was then estimated at $100 million. In 1998 investigative committee The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation combined all the materials related to the activities of JSC MMM into one production and created a single investigative and operational group. Over the years, the magic power of "MMM" has waned. At first, apparently, the pyramid began to pull out money worse, and then the protection provided by the design to its creator also weakened.

On February 3, Russian media reported that former MMM depositors had a chance to get their money back. On that day, the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia asked the former investors of MMM and the company's subsidiaries to send statements to the committee about the damage caused to them. To recognize them as injured citizens, they must also provide photocopies of all documents defining financial relations with the companies of the MMM group - checks, tickets, certificates.

Russian house Selenga

As mentioned above, "MMM" is not the only pyramid that has operated in Russia. In 1992, the Russian House of Selenga was registered in Volgograd - a company that became the "progenitor" of thousands of financial pyramids. The main objective of the company was to invest capital in large industrial facilities and building your own financial empire.

Tibet

In 1992-1994, “the Tibet concern” launched an aggressive advertising campaign to attract depositors. During this time, the firm owned by Dryamov entered into loan agreements with 200,000 Russian citizens. Fraudulently, he deprived depositors of 17 billion 344 million non-denominated rubles

In 1994, the head of "Tibet" disappeared and was put on the international wanted list. He was later arrested by Greek law enforcement for petty theft at a supermarket. A Greek court sentenced Dryamov to a year in prison. In March 1998, he was extradited to Russian law enforcement agencies. During the investigation, the guilt of Vladimir Dryamov in committing fraud in large sizes which the court confirmed.

Khoper

Another company, Khoper, followed in the footsteps of RDS (it was advertised on television by the cabaret duo Academy). Millions of dollars of depositors were smuggled into Israel.

In 1994, its office in Moscow was registered. The founders of “Khopr” are Leah Konstantinova, her son Leo, a relative of the Konstantinovs - Tagir Abbazov, Volgograd businessman Oleg Suzdaltsev. Branches of "Khopra" functioned in 70 Russian regions. The company included about 50 different structures: check funds, Insurance companies, related OJSC, LLP, “and others.

According to statistics, there were more than four million deceived depositors. It was the largest financial pyramid in Russia. Judging by the papers, from 1993 to 1997 Khoper attracted over three trillion "old" rubles, about $500 million at the 1997 exchange rate. All the funds that investors brought to Khoper (with the exception of funds for current expenses and small interest payments on shares) were sent abroad by the Konstantinovs. Either in cash or under fictitious contracts through foreign banks: Moscow National Bank in London, approximately $20 million passed through the Bank of New York, then the funds settled in coded accounts in Israeli banks. The rest of the money was taken to Israel in “black cash” in suitcases.
Until the moment the money crossed the border in suitcases, they were deposited in bank cells or were kept at Lev Konstantinov's house.
After the collapse of other financial pyramids, there were real estate, shares of existing enterprises that could be sold and partially returned money to investors. After the "Khopra" there was nothing left - everything was exported in cash abroad. Although the Khoper company has been involved in various criminal cases since 1994, the reason for the arrest of the four accused appeared only in 1997, after numerous audits of all Khoper structures.

GKO system (1994-1998)

The era of financial pyramids ended in 1994-1995, but just three years after the end of mass pyramid building, another financial pyramid collapsed, this time built by the state. In 1994-1995, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation switched to financing the deficit by issuing securities - state treasury obligations (GKO) with a maturity of 3 and 6 months and federal loan bonds (OFZ) with a maturity of one to three years - instead of direct borrowing from the Central Bank and emission of money. At first, this measure produced positive effect. However, soon the state of the economy and finances of the country led to the abuse of this tool. Autumn 1997 foreign investors, in the hands of which by that time there was a significant share of securities, began to sell government papers, which threatened to deplete foreign exchange reserves Central Bank and undermining the exchange rate of the ruble against foreign currencies. As a result, the Central Bank used its only effective weapon - raising the refinancing interest rate. In autumn 1998, it reached 150% per annum. The increase in the refinancing interest rate caused an overall increase interest rates, including the yield on government securities. The state debt pyramid has grown. 1997 and in the first half of 1998, the federal budget became subject to the task of paying interest on public debt. Between January and July 1998, expenditure federal budget interest payments accounted for more than 60% of all tax revenues, and each new issue of these obligations had to be made at a higher percentage. A situation has developed in which new issues of securities not only did not give money to the budget, but also absorbed budget revenues themselves. In August 1998, the crisis hit.

Consequences

The collapse of financial schemes can also lead to macroeconomic effects. Consequences include loss of confidence in national financial markets, expressed in a fall in prices for financial assets, exchange rate currency and rising interest rates, leakage of deposits from banks, diversion of savings from effective use, bringing them abroad with significant consequences for the country's balance of payments. If the losses of affected customers are compensated by the state budget, then the fiscal burden on the economy also increases. In addition, the collapse of the pyramids entails a drop in consumer spending, which was motivated by paper income from participating in financial schemes, and an increase in problem assets in the financial sector, if financial institutions were involved in dubious investments.

Currently, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia is in favor of toughening criminal liability for the organization of "financial pyramids". Russian Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov ordered the creation of a working group of representatives of the departments of the ministry, which will develop relevant proposals. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, over the past 9 years, about 500 thousand people have become victims of "financial pyramids" in Russia. In total, they lost 9.5 billion rubles and almost 240 million dollars. During this period, 324 criminal cases on "financial pyramids" were initiated and investigated. Currently, 52 of them are suspended in connection with the search for suspects.

More than ten years have passed since the financial pyramids ended their inglorious march across the country. However, until now, in our everyday life, words from television commercials glorifying the fastest way to enrichment: “I'm not a freeloader, I'm a partner!”, “I'll buy boots for my wife”, “A good increase in pension”.

Sources

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%9C%D0%9C

rosbalt.ru/business/2011/01/24/811611.html

ZIRCON Research Group: Financial Activity of the Russian Population in 1995-2001//: “Exclusive Marketing.” 2001/3(24)

Carroll R. T. Financial pyramid // Encyclopedia of delusions: a collection of incredible facts, amazing discoveries and dangerous beliefs. - M.: Williams Publishing House, 2005. - 672 p. - ISBN 5-8459-0830-2, ISBN 0-471-27242-6.

Now, few people do not know what are the signs of a financial pyramid, 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 own pyramid, not caring about the actual security of their obligations.

Principle of operation

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

In other words, all cases in which the amount of payments on obligations exceeds the surplus value from the business are financial pyramids. Simply illegal fraud.

The name happened, most likely, only in the 90s of the last century after the collapse of MMM. The comparison with the pyramid turned out to be the most illustrative to show that the well-being and the very activity of any such society is entirely assigned to 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 depositors. Everyone at the bottom is trying to get to the top levels as quickly as possible.

Why financial pyramids are collapsing

The reason why they are not able to work for a long time is the banal lack of inflow 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 leadership of the financial pyramid either declares bankruptcy and falls under administrative responsibility, or manages to elude justice and its disgruntled investors in other countries with accumulated funds.

The very process of destruction of the next pyramid is quite easy to understand and detect. Securities issued financial institution, at first skyrocket in price and fall down even more rapidly, in fact, depreciating completely in the end.

Multilevel pyramids

The first type can be called multilevel schemes. They are currently the most widely used, sometimes without even hiding their essence, they are in some demand. The scheme of the financial pyramid is quite simple:

1. Upon joining the organization, the contributor contributes an initial fee, which is distributed among all higher members who invited him.
2. The contributor brings two or three new applicants, and they accordingly make their contributions, which are distributed between the existing members and the inviter directly.

To understand the features and operation of such a pyramid, we will give an example. Let's say that when joining, you need to deposit 1000 conventional units. This amount will be distributed between the inviting and the higher standing members, from which 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 has 50% left, and the members following him get half as much with each step.

If two people invited by him invite two more each, then the profit will increase by another 100%, that is, by a thousand. So having invested your money, you can get at least 200% for only two levels of referents. When attracting 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 required to involve a larger number of participants with each level, which increases exponentially. IN short term for such financial constructions even the population of the entire planet is not enough for new participants to have time to reimburse the initial fee.

More often than not, 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.

Ponzi pyramids

Actually, to this type the infamous MMM also applies. Charlie Ponzi is the man credited with the very first pyramid of this type. He created it in the 1920s. A sign of such options is the promises of management to pay huge interest to their depositors. 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 successful receipt of interest by the first investors of the pyramid, information about such an effective earning mechanism spreads, and the number of participants grows like a snowball. It is at this moment that payments on old obligations are already being made by attracting new funds.

Such a scheme can last long enough, as long as the funds raised cover the increasing payments. As soon as there are signs 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 appearance of pyramids in the financial world

It is possible to divide the reasons that lead to the possibility of the emergence of financial pyramids into categories depending on the prerequisites and signs:

History of financial relations and financial fraud

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

The European economy felt the most painful blows from the activities of various enterprises that arose in the 17th-19th centuries against the backdrop of trade wars and the conquest of new trading markets around the world. A striking example is the South Sea Company, which was founded in Great Britain in 1711. It existed until 1721. During its existence and activity, it has become 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, 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 obligations of the company announced the redemption of the public debt, subject to the completion of the war for the Spanish inheritance for the benefit of England. On the impossibility of realizing such obligations, the principles of the financial pyramid were built.

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

In order to completely secure a monopoly influence on 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 ceiling of £1,000. Almost everyone, from the peasant to the lords, bought them, which was the first sign of the end of the campaign. However, the inability to provide own obligations the company declared itself bankrupt a few months later, which is natural for such a financial structure like a pyramid. The value of securities fell in a month to a critical low of £150.

A huge number of people from all strata of the population suffered from the actions of the company. Even such world famous personalities as Isaac Newton and writer Jonathan Swift lost significant capital. However, it is still impossible to call the company unsuccessful, because the organizers, for the most part, managed to leave England with huge amounts 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 only twenty years ago is perceived much brighter. The appearance from scratch and the catastrophically fast promotion of MMM brought many of its investors large profits at the beginning, and subsequently left a much larger number of people without any personal savings. The financial pyramid erected by Sergei Mavrodi at the beginning of the turbulent nineties was supported by people as a kind of salvation from the hyperinflation that reigned around and was almost the only way to get out of the current crisis.

In the end, everything turned out to be much more prosaic and deplorable. The result of the mass fraud was the loss of 110 million rubles by depositors, who, according to various estimates, were 10-15 million. The worst thing is that after the final closure of the 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 the post-Soviet space, these were still unfamiliar technologies, and they had a huge impact on the minds of viewers. Already after the first deposits and payments, people poured into the cash desks of the company with the desire to invest their savings as much as possible. The share price of the pyramid started from 25 thousand rubles. and eventually reached 125 thousand rubles. This seemed to many just a miracle and only spurred even more people to get involved in 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 savers was reached, the inflow decreased in scale and went much faster than the decline in share prices. A few days later, only 1 thousand rubles were given for one piece of paper from Mavrodi.

The most terrible thing in this story is that the MMM pyramid was reborn from the ashes, as if nothing had happened, several more times. Over and over again, new tickets were issued, and the old ones were frozen and still there were those who wanted to. 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. Sold, in fact, not a product, but only a subjective opportunity to earn money. The distribution system is simplified. For example, the first contributor acquires membership in some organization and receives a link to the company's resource. His task is to distribute his referral link to as many sites as possible so that people can use it. For each new client, he receives a certain amount from his purchase of the first level, which implements the basic principle of the pyramid.

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

What are some examples of the most notorious and effective financial pyramid schemes on the Internet?

1. Seven wallets. The system is simple. It is necessary to send in equal shares a certain amount to the electronic wallets of seven people according to the list provided by the system, and invite a few 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 make a profit of 13,950 rubles. But this is actually an unattainable goal, because the number of participants is growing at an enormous 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 it seems that there is more control over the distribution of funds and more benefits. Entry price is only 90 rubles. how much is the key of the first level. Subsequent purchases are made with the funds received. The goal is to invite three more participants. The final goal is to get 30 million rubles by reaching level 28. That's just bad luck, after all, that in order to achieve such a level, it will be necessary to introduce about 23 trillion rubles into the system. users, which is many orders of magnitude greater than the entire population of the planet. In addition, it turned out that keys can be generated not only by organizers, but also by users.
3. While creating next system– MoneyTrain creators have tried to get rid of such egregious mistakes of previous versions. The number of levels has been reduced to 18, and the total number of required invitees to 580 million. However, even this is not realistic.

We identify scammers

The problem of unambiguously identifying fraudsters against the background of completely legitimate business ideas is that not all schemes built on the principle of a pyramid are deliberately fraudulent. There are many examples where network marketing operates in the same way as a financial pyramid, on the basis of an extensive base and brings it to a single top.

Another option may simply be a mistake made by the entrepreneur in the structural construction of his business. Or simply in the event of unforeseen waste. To keep the business afloat, he is forced to turn to third-party investments or lending, but as a result, this may lead to the fact that new loans are used only to cover obligations on old loans, instead of developing the business.

Finally, it should be noted that even pension system in our country is built as 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, how to recognize a pyramid scheme? Here are three main metrics:

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

The market economy is characterized by freedom of enterprise and choice of the way of doing business. For any businessman, the main goal of his business is to make a profit. Money is the universal measure of performance evaluation. The functioning of a legitimate business is based on the production, sale or resale of goods, the 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 generating income by its participants by attracting funds from new participants. That is, people entering the pyramid today "provide" those who came there before. Or all the money can be accumulated by one person - the organizer.

An ordinary layman will immediately remember the financial pyramid MMM in Russia in the early 90s, which ended in a loud crash with thousands of affected people. 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 classical scheme of doing business can lead to a financial pyramid. This happens when the owner miscalculates profitability and the company goes at a loss or barely covers the cost. It is not possible to return the money taken on credit or attracted from investors. To support the business, new loans are taken to pay off the old debtors. It is incorrect to interpret this as fraud, this situation is closer to the concept of illegal business.

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

To designate a fraudulent scheme, this expression has been used in England since the early 70s. last century, although financial pyramids originated much earlier. The first company operating under the financial pyramid scheme is considered to be Joint-Stock Company(JSC) Organization of Indias by John Law. According to the plan, she was supposed to invest the funds raised in the development of the Mississippi River. In fact, the investments were minimal, and the enterprising Scot directed most of the proceeds to the purchase of government bonds. In fact, he extinguished everything external debts France. Lo promised that the shares bought today would rise in price soon. Because of the hype, six months later, the cost of one paper exceeded the original one by several times. paper money France was forced to produce more and more. When the volume money supply became huge, and the price of shares rose to unprecedented proportions, this pyramid collapsed. Commodity prices rose sharply and paper money was not accepted as payment.

Subsequently, financial pyramids began to periodically appear in other countries. He organized a large fraudulent scheme related to coupons in 1919. in the US Charles Ponzi. It was the first analogue of the modern one-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 next newcomers. In Russia, the pyramid boom came during the transition period to the market in the early 1990s, when Sergei Mavrodi's famous JSC MMM was created.

Financial pyramid schemes 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, even the death penalty is provided for the construction of such a structure. If the country does not have a separate article for pyramid schemes, then such fraud can qualify as illegal business.

Reasons for the emergence of financial pyramids

The emergence of financial pyramids is due to a number of changes in the economy and state 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;
• emergence of various financial institutions, offering both to keep their savings and increase them;
• lack of reliable information and illiteracy of the population in financial matters.

The essence of the financial pyramid

The main goal of such a scheme is to enrich the organizers of the pyramid due to the influx of new people. It is possible that those who immediately entered the first ranks and then withdrew their money on time will remain in profit. The contributions of the participants are not invested anywhere and go to reward the upper levels, that is, those people who invited them and others higher 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, some product may be present to cover the “business”, but the essence of this does not change: the profit in the pyramid is obtained through investments new members.

The distribution of the funds of the joining members occurs according to different schemes. The principle of the financial pyramid is as many newcomers as possible. But when the flow of depositors decreases and there is nothing to pay the promised money, the pyramid collapses. The fact is that the number of people on our planet has a finite value. Not everyone has a chance to get their hard-earned money back, not to mention the promised interest. The last ones who entered their money are unlikely to see it. Organizers can hold on to payments for some time, and then collect all available savings and hide.

How does a pyramid scheme work?

There are many variations of fraudulent pyramid schemes. The essence remains unchanged, but the ways to "splurge" the ordinary citizen are becoming more sophisticated. Consider 2 illustrative examples:

These descriptions are presented in a simplified form. There are complex intricate schemes with the presence of a real product and very similar to network marketing, which is a legal business. Financial pyramids live 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, within a few months after the start of work, the company begins to feel a "deficit" of new members. At the same time, liabilities are growing, and there is often panic among depositors. They massively begin to sell "securities" if any. Or impulsively decide to withdraw their investments. And if someone says that he was able to make money on the pyramid, it means that he was among the first, or at least in the middle. The top (organizers) in any case will earn more. Sooner or later, a huge number of participants will be "thrown", 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 and fast payback period. Yields above 30% should already alert. Not so much legal ways providing such profits, and of those that are available, all have a medium to high level of risk. If a company promises to pay back the 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 big businessmen and experienced investors?
2. Large entry fee. More often within 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 return for the money invested, a person can receive goods at an inflated cost and not corresponding to the declared characteristics or counterfeit securities. Documents confirming the receipt of funds are not issued or a contract is handed to a person indicating that if investment strategy does not work, then the invested funds cannot be returned.
4. The company's focus is on PR. Impressive presentations, product know-how, a beautifully designed website, persuasive salespeople, mailing lists and sms - all this is aimed at reaching a large number of people. There are slogans like "Hurry up to be among the first!", "Hurry up and buy a device that has no analogues in the world!". At the same time, advertising is blurred: a specific product or method of obtaining income from participation in the project is not indicated.
5. Concealment of information about the owners of the enterprise, lack of a license and permits for the right to engage in financial activities. However, all this may be the case if the company is registered as a figurehead or 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.
6. Unusual and incomprehensible reward plan. The abundance of information, complex terms and overly optimistic forecasts should alert.
7. Indirectly or directly they talk about the need to involve their relatives and friends in the project. At the same time, they offer to learn special psychological techniques or methods of neurolinguistic programming (NLP).
8. Excessive perseverance of the organizers. Persuading a person to make a decision and give money "here and now", the requirement to sign a non-disclosure agreement and the promise of easy money for minimal effort.

Types of financial pyramids

All fraudulent pyramidal schemes are divided into 3 types according to their structure. Sometimes there are assurances from the organizers that they have created absolutely new project. However, upon its detailed examination, the scheme will belong to one of the three types known today.

One-level (Ponzi scheme) pyramids

The Ponzi scheme (Ponzi) is one of the most common and uncomplicated types of financial pyramids. It got its name from the name of a famous Italian who first organized a massive deception of the population.

The creator attracts the first participants with high interest and guaranteed income in a short time. Each joiner is not required to involve other people. He can pay the first profit to investors from own funds. When this project becomes more popular and the number of participants increases, money is shifted - the organizer pays the old participants with the funds of the new ones. The number of applicants to join is steadily growing and many are reinvested.

Of course, there is no declared activity in this pyramid. It can represent itself as an investment, charitable project, mutual aid fund, etc. For a certain time, the game of “bag” continues. There comes a period when obligations to depositors grow, and the influx of new participants decreases. The organizer winds down the activity and hides along with all the money.

Schematically, such a pyramid looks like this:

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

• 1 queue;
• 2 turns;
• 3 turns;
• 4 turns .

The lifespan of such a pyramid depends on its popularity. Most often, such schemes live from 4 months to 2 years. About 80-90% of depositors remain at a loss. Examples of financial pyramids of this type: the first JSC "MMM" S. Mavrodi, investment company B. Madoff, "iPhone" pyramid in 2011. in Moscow, B. Tannenbaum's project for investments in anti-AIDS drugs, Vlastilina, Khoper-invest.

Multilevel 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 that, the new investor must bring several people to the pyramid (usually from 2 to 5). In an explicit or implicit form, they explain to him that in order to make money in the project, it is precisely new participants that are needed. From them, he will begin to receive money, that is, to recoup his investments and make a profit.

In essence, this is a simple shifting of money, just like in a Ponzi scheme. As the depth grows, the number of participants grows very quickly and after 10-15 levels it will make up the entire population of the whole country. It is obvious that lower level investors will lose their money, as 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 in 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 go into virtual space for better disguise. Examples of such companies: MMM-2011, MMM-2012, Binar, Talk Fusion.

Matrix financial pyramids

These schemes are a complicated modification multilevel pyramids. There is usually a real commodity (eg gold, silver, weight loss kit, etc.) although there may be a fictitious "entrepreneurial education 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 scheme of operation of such a structure using the example of Emgoldex:

When joining, a new participant under No. 4 invests 540 Euro, 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 in part of the lower level. Perhaps the participant number 3 on the left who invited him will promise that he himself will find people instead of him. The investor under No. 1 receives his reward - 7 thousand rubles. Euro (minus commission) in the form of a purchased gold bar, which he can sell back to the company. In fact, 14 people chip in for a “gift” for one.

When dividing the matrices (in Emgoldex they are called “tables”), the participants gradually move towards their “top”. Participant No. 1 opens a new table and enters the lowest level. Accordingly, new participants are needed to fill in the matrices. The very purchase of gold in an online store 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, the purchase of gold is carried out in Dubai. Beliefs that gold is rapidly growing in price and that is what brings good interest the depositor is not backed up real facts. By all indications, this is a clever way to launder money abroad. After all, as the number of people who entered, 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 the matrix pyramids the conditions for receiving remuneration are vague: you have to wait until the full matrix is ​​​​typed, and when this happens and whether it happens at all, the company does not guarantee. Therefore, they function longer than other types of pyramids. But the X-hour will come for them too. Most investors will remain at a loss.

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

The advent of the World Wide Web provided new opportunities for the creation and development of pyramids. The geography of coverage of potential participants has increased significantly, and material costs decreased on advertising. Tracking the movement of money through electronic payment systems is more difficult. Registration of sites often takes place on fictitious persons or in such a way 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 in this pyramid, shares of virtual companies were traded. The scenario was somewhat reminiscent of the MMM project, however, on the website for many such companies there was a caveat: prices can go both up and down. This "game" worked for 2 years, the victims number from 300 thousand people to several million.

Mavrodi's MMM-2011 and MMM-2012 projects are also large-scale. A virtual currency "Mavro" was invented, the purchase and sale of which was carried out in the first project through the leaders of the levels - foremen, centurions, thousanders, etc. In the second project (called the "mutual assistance fund"), the participants themselves directly settled the accounts. 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 pyramids were closed. Mavrodi announced a restart several times, but there was no longer any confidence 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 newbies. Next, a second level key is bought. 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 Internet pyramids in separate categories HYIPs and seven “magic” wallets stand out.

HYIPs are also pyramids

High-yield investment projects under the financial pyramid scheme are HYIPs (hype projects). They argue their interest by investing in shares, mutual funds, trust management, but they can simply remain silent about their activities. There is an opinion that investing in HYIPs is one of the most profitable types of income with proper investment. On the Internet, you can even find articles where experienced participants in these projects talk about the correct investment strategy in order to “leave the game in time” before the hype closes and at the same time earn 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 other activity is carried out. Therefore, there are people who really 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 sites of venture capital - investments with a high level of risk - companies that are really engaged in investing money in risky and highly profitable financial instruments(like Forex). In contrast, HYIPs have the following features:

• colorful design of the resource and excessive advertising about the need for investments and a guarantee of return;
• profitability is promised at 0.5–10% per day, which is an unreasonably high rate, however, there are projects that offer 15% per month and this feature is not applicable to them;
• fictitious objects of investment or their absence;
• there are no company data (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.

For financial transactions HYIPs offer participants electronic payment systems perfect money, Bitcoin, Payeer, Qiwi and a number of others that do not require personal identification. Most HYIPs do not work with WebMoney. By income level, all HYIP projects are divided into 3 categories:

• Low-yielding 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 pyramidal scheme and large-scale advertising. very similar to legal investment programs associated with trust management of assets.
• Mid-income financial pyramids. They exist from 6 months to 1 year and offer a yield of 15–60% per annum per month (up to 3% per day). They are quickly untwisted, but they also reach the peak of popularity very soon.
• Highly profitable financial pyramids. They work 2-5 weeks and offer rates above 60% per month (over 3% daily). They have aggressive intrusive advertising like “Sign up soon and get a lot of money!”, “Hurry up, such 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 referrals play an important role in the system. They spread the word about the new project and encourage netizens to become a member. The success of the project largely depends on their actions. HYIP creators work with these "agents" through partnership programs, that is, they charge “refers” a certain percentage of investors' deposits. The distributors themselves are trying to advertise the HYIP project in social networks, forums and blogs in more detail and in more detail. Often, investors are offered to agitate the hype themselves and participate in the referral program. This gives maximum promotion among online investors and a large influx of money.

For a certain time, the HYIP has been successfully functioning, and some of the 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 cash receipts. HYIP closes (scams) and all the money remains with the organizers.

Magic wallets - an ordinary financial pyramid

The 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, delete one top wallet, enter your own and post a message on 100-200 forums, message boards, sites where people are looking for work. It is believed that if everything is done correctly, the money will “fall like a bag”, because the following participants will send money to your wallet and also begin to promote information. In fact, this is an ordinary financial pyramid, moreover, uncontrolled.

There is no guarantee that the person who “pecked” at 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 the massive spam, the pyramid will grow to a gigantic size. These 5 participants will also attract 5 newcomers each, 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 is growing exponentially: after 2 levels, 2–3 million people will need to connect, 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 up to blocking the wallet. Financial monitoring and security services track 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 shares in large volumes (about 27 million) and tickets (about 72 million). Investors were promised 500-1000% per annum. Powerful propaganda in the media led 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 course of shares and tickets was set by the organizer S. Mavrodi himself.

Due to the hype, their cost increased rapidly and reached 125 thousand rubles. per share. In fact, these papers were not worth that much money. Rumors spread among investors about Mavrodi's problems with paying taxes and illegal business. The panic that began led to a sharp drop (more than 100 times) in the value of shares and tickets. In fact, they have become depreciated "paper". The office of JSC "MMM" 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 pyramid schemes in the 90s and 2000s were:

• "Vlastilina";
• "Russian House of the Selenga";
• "Tibet";
• "Khoper-invest";
• "Rubin" ("SAN").

The number of victims in them was in the millions, the lost amounts of depositors ranged from several million to trillions of rubles. As a result, almost all the organizers received real terms of imprisonment, and only a few managed to escape.

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

New financial pyramids include:

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

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

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 can be found both in fraudulent schemes and in legal business.

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

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

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 to the person who invited you. The chances of getting your hard-earned money back increase if you have documents confirming the receipt or transfer of money.

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

Despite the illegality, financial pyramids will continue to be created, trapping gullible citizens. To recognize them, you need a cold calculation and understanding of the essence of the operation of pyramidal schemes.