All pyramid schemes eventually collapse, and most investors lose their money. Prospective members were told that the potential return was “huge” – at least US$10,000 in 90 days, with a “minimum potential income” of US$160,000. This as a pyramid scheme as the only way members could make money was by recruiting new participants. List of Pyramid Schemes Conmen have tried to disguise their scams by using other names for them. Pyramid schemes are set up to encourage recruitment to keep a constant stream of new distributors – and their money – flowing into the business. Pyramid schemes have existed in different forms for at least the past 100 years. "Pyramid scheme" becomes catchall for fraudulent conduct. It’s best not to get involved in plans where the money you make is based primarily on the number of distributors you recruit and your sales to them, rather than on your sales to people outside the plan who intend to use the products. In the classic "pyramid" scheme, participants attempt to make money solely by recruiting new participants, usually where: The promoter promises a high return in a short period of time; No genuine product or service is actually sold; and The primary emphasis is on recruiting new participants. Pyramid schemes became so notorious that then-Senator Walter Mondale sponsored a federal anti-pyramiding bill. In common usage, people often refer to anything they deem a scam as a “pyramid scheme.” For example, people have referred to various multi-level marketing operations as “pyramid schemes,” but the technical definition requires a pyramid scheme to involve financial fraud. And the list … Often in a pyramid scheme, you’ll be encouraged or even required to buy a certain amount of product at regular intervals, even if you already have more inventory than you can use or sell. This list of pyramid schemes include gifting circles, women empowering women, liberty scheme, people in profit, donation club, calculator scheme, debt reduction and circles of success. Over 350,000 people were scammed out of a total of at least $169 million. Example: Three businessmen promoted a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. One famous type of pyramid scheme is known as a gifting scheme.These often have names like dinner party, women empowering women, dinner club, circle of friends or women's empowerment network.This scheme is a naked pyramid scheme in which new participants "buy in" with a set amount of money that is "donated" to the person who recruits them. The settlement bans FHTM from the multilevel marketing business and from deceiving consumers. It passed the United States Senate twice in the 1970's, but never became law. A popular one that NBC 7 Responds was told about is known as "Blessing Loom" or a "Loom Circle." Some are pyramid schemes. Not to be confused with multilevel marketing schemes or Ponzi schemes. The MLM Master List intends to provide a reference for the names of all known past and present MLM schemes (and some direct selling schemes, where applicable).. We are very thankful to the popular Facebook group “Sounds Like MLM But OK” for the effort and time they put into starting off this huge master list, and sharing it with us, as the basis of our master list. As in Ponzi schemes, the money collected from newer victims of pyramid schemes is paid to earlier victims to provide a veneer of legitimacy. Pyramid schemes often gain popularity because they do work for the few people at the top. Today, the FTC announced a settlement with Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM), a company that operated an illegal pyramid scheme disguised as a multilevel marketing program. Have tried to disguise their scams by using other names for them scheme as the only way could. 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