I detest pyramid schemes. LOATHE them. I have seen really good guys turn into absolute scum bucket bottom feeders in their pursuit to be successful, stopping at nothing to try and get their promised and elusive rolexes and cadillacs.
Every time one comes down the pyke, I see coworkers, family members and friends get all innocent and wide eyed all over again, as if they never heard of this same shit millions of time before.
The latest one I have heard about is being pushed by a coworker that I loved and adored until he started with this. He hasn’t approached me with it, but he has approached nearly every co-worker I have with it. I am absolutely certain it is your run of the mill pyramid scheme:
Give him 250 to join
Collect 250 from your family and friends each
???
PROFIT!
This is the first time I have really gone balls to the wall trying to convince anyone that this is nonsense. My good friend at work looks sucked in, “Well, this is a legit business, though, because they have a building and everything” I can’t convince him it’s just a scam. I tried to google it but they have somehow google scrubbed the internet, because when I type in “Is 5linx a scam?” I get obviously blantantly biased decoy sites that claim to be investigating reporters or reviewers or skeptical clients that have determined that whatdaya know! It’s legit.
So, my question is, how can I convince anyone that this is a scam? Again, this is the first time I have really tried. Any other time I have only voiced my opinion when pulled into the conversation and in those cases I gave a casual condemning of the scams and let it go. I really don’t want to do that this time. I am wanting to not just save my friend some money but also really win the damn debate with him.
Please email me instructions for sending payment. I’m eager to hear your explanation. Wait. Dammit. I just remembered a problem with my banking account because the dumb bank made an error. Tell you what, TriPolar; you give me the 500 dollar fee needed to finish paying the accountant who is straightening out my banking dispute, and then he can unfreeze the money and I can pay you back your 500 plus the 250 for the instructions.
Lurker, thanks. I did look at the wiki article, but I don’t think Sean (just made that name up) thinks that THIS deal fits that description. He really trusts the guy who is pushing it. Everyone does, he is a great, cool, nice guy. I really liked him until this. I still like him, but I hate this thing. To his credit, he hasn’t started acting all weird with me like others who I know have fallen for these things.
Sean says stuff like, “This is different. They have a real office and links to legit businesses…businesses that I know for a fact are legit” I think Slick Willy has probably given a list of businesses that are ‘affiliated’ with 5linx and I’m sure that 5linx has played fast and loose with the word ‘affiliated’.
I know that it’s just a matter of time that the ‘legit’ business office closes as soon as the authorities hear enough about this scam to check it out.
ETA: By the way, this thing is spreading through my community like wild fire. My best friend said everyone at her job has buzzed about it and my husband told me he heard about it too. I took this time to teach my daughter about healthy skepticism, doubt, research and if-it-sounds-too-good-to-be-true-it-probably-isedness.
I like watching Penn and Teller’s bullshit episode on the subject. I can’t link it here, but you can find it on YouTube. The name of the episode is called “Easy Money.”
BigT, I love Penn and Teller’s Bullshit. The problem is, these scams are always coming up with new ways to try to distinguish themselves from all the other scams so that they can point to them all and say, “See? We aren’t like them. You can trust us.”
5linx is doing that. Showing my friend the offices and saying, “See? We are legit. Not like those other scams that don’t have any real business behind it.” That way, folks will look at that Bullshit ep and think, “well that sucks for those people, but MY thing isn’t a scam like that.”
I don’t think I was clear in the OP but, the one pushing the scheme at work (Slick Willy) isn’t the same friend as the one I am worried will buy into the scheme (the one I called Sean).
I don’t want to ever see Sean turn into the kind of greasy slimeball who starts to look at his friends and family as just chumps to milk. I’ve seen it before. It is so ugly.
Or we may see a newly registered guest willing to tell us all about 5linx. They probably have a Google Alert set up to notifiy them when it’s mentioned.
Most workplaces have very strict rules about soliciting this kind of thing to other employees - maybe go around Slick Willy and Sean and take it straight to management? Could result in a company-wide email/memo reminding people of the rule, and if you’re lucky it could include info on how and why this is a scam.
Do it in such a way to avoid getting anyone in trouble, if you can, but if Slick Willy gets hung out to dry - it sounds like the workplace would be better for it.
I will just chime in with some nitpickery that bugs me: what you’ve got here is a pyramid scheme, not a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme involves making up fake investments and paying fake returns out of the principal from new recruits.
Yeah, I kinda knew that but I figured, close enough to make my point and plus I like saying ‘Ponzi’.
Bob Ducca, I do like Slick Willy, though. This is the only thing he has ever done that has rubbed me wrong. I don’t want to get him in trouble. I mind my biz when it comes to management. I only have my nose stuck in this biz because I have a peeve about these scams and my friends at work go toe to toe about all kinds of issues; this issue isn’t outside the realm of the kinds of topics we usually hotly debate anyways. So I do want to debunk this nonsense, but I don’t want to get Slick in any trouble.
Any investment in a “legit business”, that doesn’t have an actual service or product from which they make a profit and then in turn return said profit to shareholders is a scam.
Ask your co-worker to explain the investee’s business model…how they make money…if their only source of money is capital from other people…then it’s not a business.
You should be cautious about Slick Willy. Sociopaths are often very likable, since their relationships aren’t tainted with any trace of honesty. If he finds you are interfering with his business then it could get unpleasant.
