The history of the concept of “financial pyramid” begins from the time when distrust in banks appeared. Having studied banking sector, it became clear how money is made out of thin air. To do this, all you had to do was create a constant stream Money in a system that would further redistribute funds between participants, giving everyone the opportunity to earn money. Owners have the right to use other people's money, and investors benefit in the form of profits.

It seems that everything is beautiful and simple - and partly it is. We conducted extensive research and tried to answer frequently asked questions. Therefore, it makes sense to talk further about what are the signs of a financial pyramid, what it is, its types and how it works.

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What is a financial pyramid

is an organization whose profit is generated by the constant influx of new funds in the absence of any real activity or product. In short, this is a fraudulent organization that offers to place investments under "Draconian" percentage of profits, guaranteeing quick earnings. The company does not produce a product or service, but provides profits to early participants at the expense of late ones. Thus, there is a banal transfer of money from one hand to another. We recommend watching an excellent documentary that examines this definition.

However, under such conditions it is impossible to work forever, which provokes a sad outcome of events for everyone - the cessation of payments. When the outflow of funds exceeds the inflow, the organizers of financial pyramids close the project. Therefore, these types of schemes are generally considered fraudulent, despite the fact that at times such “companies” receive incredibly large sums. The most famous and once reliable investment company in Russia in the 90s, which in fact turned out to be fraudulent, is the financial pyramid “MMM” by Sergei Mavrodi. The film talks about this, but we will look at this in detail later.

History of financial pyramids

"Tulip Fever"

The first and also the largest financial pyramid in history, rightfully deserving of its title, is the Dutch “tulip fever”, which spread in the 17th century. The excitement was excessive. “Tulip exchanges” were even created, where entire fortunes were earned through speculation. One bulb of a unique variety could easily be exchanged for an expensive house. The market collapsed in 1637, but even to this day nothing has recreated a rush of this magnitude for an unbacked resource.

"Mississippi Company"

The tulip fever was not essentially a pyramid scheme, because there was no need to attract new money. The first financial pyramid was created by John Law, forming an open Joint-Stock Company called the Mississippi Company. The company attracted new contributions from shareholders, which were to be used to colonize French territories located on the Mississippi River. At the same time, the shares were not distributed among a narrow circle of people, but everyone could purchase them. The success was incredible and the shares increased their value many times over. Over time, the stock price collapsed, making payments to millions of investors impossible.

The definition itself, as a term, was first used by the British in the 1970s to refer to cheating. However, history shows that the first modern financial pyramid was created by Charles Ponzi in the USA. Ponzi recreated the first single-level scam , based on attracting new deposits. Charles founded a company that offered to buy coupons in exchange for a promissory note that guaranteed 50% net profit in 45 days. Over time, it turned out that there were only 27 thousand coupons on hand, although 160 million were supposed to be in circulation. The scam was exposed, and investors returned only 37%. In total, Charles raised $50 million.

"MMM"

The incredible boom of financial pyramids in Russia occurred during the period of large-scale privatization in the early 1990s. At the same time, the largest financial pyramid in the CIS region was created under the leadership of Sergei Mavrodi “MMM”. The company was engaged in the issue of shares, which were offered for purchase to everyone. As a result, the organization was recognized as the largest scam, although it officially paid taxes. Let's take a closer look below.

How a financial pyramid works

No monetary structure can function without a constant flow of money, so the principle of such work can be associated with pyramids. After all, in fact, if you withdraw all deposits from any bank, it will close. Why? – because the bank does not produce any product, but in defense of banks it is worth mentioning the provision of financial services. The principle of operation of a financial pyramid is based on an exceptional influx of new investors. As soon as the influx stops, the investment site is closed.

To understand how to build a logical chain of events that helps to understand how a financial pyramid works, let’s give a clear example:

• Let's say a legal company has opened "Naduvalovo" .
• The fund attracts investments, guaranteeing earnings of 1% daily.
• The first investors appear and are paid the stated return.
• Investors like everything, so they express a desire to attract new partners, because "Naduvalovo" will give 10% of new deposits.
• The project also pays this money, so more and more people want to earn money.
• "Naduvalovo" is developing, and the first investors are already receiving net profit on personal deposits. All investors rejoice and sing songs of praise.
• There comes a point when the payment obligations become too large, or the organizers simply want to close the program.
• Payments stop.
• Investors understand that this is a fraudulent scheme, but alas, even the police are unlikely to find the creators "Naduvalova" .

In short, the whole process goes something like this. Almost everywhere they write that financial pyramids These are unprofitable organizations. We agree with the title “scam” that the majority are left with nothing too. But few people talk about how a huge number of people became millionaires by participating in such schemes. The Internet contains a lot of them. You just need to know how to earn money and understand the principle of work, although everyone makes the choice to participate or not.

Signs of a financial pyramid

One of the most frequently asked questions for sure “How to recognize this kind of company?” . A sign was made for this purpose. So, the signs of a financial pyramid include:

The company's activities are based solely on words	The company's work is supported solely by words or text on the website. No one will ever show what operations are being carried out because they do not exist in nature.
No accounting reports	Income on the deposit is accrued according to the stated conditions. Another point is that a highly profitable project will never provide financial statements about activities.
Interest is higher than bank interest	Each sign is important, but this point is the most revealing. If investment fund offers a guaranteed income exceeding the bank interest on deposits, it will probably turn out that this is a financial pyramid, of which there are many types.
No faces	Often faces are not revealed. On the other hand, their presence does not guarantee the reliability of the company.
Documents in an offshore country	Most often, organizations are legal. This happens because documents like the Panama license are not difficult to forge (purchase). Certificates are also forged, which will claim that all money is protected and insured.
Barkers give guarantees	Present a large number of activists who “pump up” the investment fund. At the same time, such persons often guarantee 100% results and no risks.
Fast payback period	The payback period for the investment can be from a month to a year (more unlikely). This is many times superior banking conditions depositing.
Minimum contribution	A minimum contribution is required to participate.
Active PR campaign	There is massive advertising and people come in packs. It is also one of the most important signs.
Promises for years to come	It is certainly not known how long such enterprises last, although the average is 1-12 months, with ten-year plans of the organizers.
Organizers' persistence	The creators do their best to encourage new investors to make deposits using tricks and tricks. Early investors are also forced to reinvest.
Passive income	The main sign is that you don’t need to do anything, just give them money and sit on the couch. Surely such conditions are inherent only in “pyramidos”.

This is how a financial pyramid works, the signs of which can be detected with the naked eye.

Financial pyramid - essence and purpose

The main goal of the creators of such a scheme – become richer due to the permanent influx of new participants. Whoever manages to get rich with them is a great fellow and knows that the sphere implies not only losses, but also excellent profits. To understand how financial pyramids work, you need to understand their essence. Everything can be depicted primitively using the following diagram.

The creators are professionals in their field, so they know how to make an investment project where people will spend money. The investor will make a profit until the outflow exceeds the inflow. As soon as everything comes down to this outcome, the financial pyramid collapses, and investors understand that this is the end. Essentially, it all comes down to the redistribution of income between platform participants. It is difficult to dissuade an experienced person from participating in this kind of investment, since he knows that he cannot get that kind of money out of the bank or from his place of work.

Types of financial pyramids

Single-level

The simplest and most popular type is a single-level investment fund. This is a standard Ponzi scheme. It is not necessary to invite new clients, because the creator pays the participants with personal funds at the initial stage of work. After gaining popularity and creating the illusion of a reliable project, the cash register begins to fill with investors’ money. In short, the operating principle is based on the independent development of the platform by the administrator without stimulating the audience to develop.

Multi-level

This type of highly profitable program is similar in principle to the previous one, but requires mandatory invitations. Without partners and additional funds, the flow of funds from late investors to early investors and the admin will become impossible. Multi-level projects can include up to 15 levels of structure, but fully populated levels will be equal to the number of people in the country.

Matrix

The matrix scheme provides for a type of marketing in which the investor undertakes to fill out his own matrix. The size of the matrix is ​​described by the company's terms and conditions. The new participant ends up at the very bottom of the matrix and gradually moves up, filling out his own. In this case, inviting partners is not necessary, since the matrix can be filled out by superior and subordinate people. It is worth saying that such a situation is unlikely. Schematically it looks like this.

The single-level financial pyramid is the most tenacious, since the cash desk is burdened solely by deposit obligations. The average life expectancy of this species is approximately from 4 months to several years.

The largest financial pyramids in world history

As technology and human skills developed, the ability to obtain benefits progressed in parallel. On these grounds, marketing changed, which attracted more people and money, respectively. This provoked the development of the scheme highly profitable investments and new types of financial pyramids appeared. Next, each type is considered separately point by point.

Lou Perlman, the founder of Trans Continental Airlines Travel Services and a dozen others, became especially famous in 1981. The companies were listed only by documents and did not conduct any activities. Lu managed to sell shares of his project for 20 years in a row and even place shares on the stock exchange. We bought shares as individuals, so did financial institutions, and their share prices rose.

The criminal scheme was later discovered and Lou Perlman was sentenced to 25 years in prison. During all this time he managed to attract $300 million. Interestingly, it was this man who created the popular musical groups Backstreet Boys and NSync.

European Royal Club

In 1992, an organization called the European Royal Club was founded by two partners, Damara Bertges and Hans Spachtholz. The club had great financial influence and was perceived as the opposite of the banks of Europe. Members of the European Royal Club had the right to purchase a "letter", which was presented as a share in the company. The shares gave a yield of 200 Swiss francs at a cost of 1400 monetary units. The fraudulent scheme was uncovered 2 years later. During this period of time, the amount of investment amounted to 1 billion dollars . Damara was given 7 years in prison, and Hans 5.

The Greatest Pyramid by Barnard Madoff

The largest financial pyramid scheme of all time in the world was created by a man named Bernie Madoff. The activity of the scheme falls on the modern period. Bernard Madoff formed the investment fund “Madoff Investment Securities,” which was rightfully considered one of the most reliable and largest in the United States. The fund gave investors between 12% and 13% returns each year. Over the 15 years of its existence, it was able to attract both investments from individuals and capital from large financial companies. According to estimates, over the entire period it was possible to attract more than 3 million people and capital in the amount of $65 billion! The bubble burst in 2008, and Bernie received a 150-year sentence.

Ingenious schemes

The name of the scheme is derived from the name of the creator from Pakistan with the beautiful name Syed Sibtul Hassan Shah. For some time, Syed Shah lived in the city of Dubai, after which he returned home - the city of Wazirabad. The guy actively began telling his neighbors about his incredible competence in managing capital on the stock exchange.

Only about 10 people believed Shah, who gave the money under the guarantee of doubling it within a week. The guy fulfilled his obligations and after 1.5 years he managed to collect about 1 billion dollars with more than 300 thousand investors. Shah's activities ceased and as a result he was arrested under the law.

It is also impossible not to mention another interesting historical moment. In 1999, a businessman from China named Wang Feng opened his own company, which invited everyone to become its investors. The essence was an unusual business - buying and caring for “special” ants. The ants cost $1,500 and, according to legend, had healing properties. For 14 months of ant care, investors were entitled to accruals of 32% per year of the purchase amount.

Wang Feng became a very famous person, who was written about in newspapers and talked about on television. However, in practice there was no use of ants. The scam collapsed after reaching a total investment of $2 billion , and Feng was sentenced to death.

Popular financial pyramids in Russia

"MMM"

The largest financial pyramid in Russia, MMM, run by Sergei Mavrodi, has already been mentioned several times. Sergei and two henchmen decided to organize an enterprise, the name of which consisted of the first letters of the founders' surnames. The company offered to become a shareholder to everyone who would receive 1000% per annum. The popularity was enormous, especially on television.

The company had an attractive slogan: “Tomorrow is more expensive than today.” The organizers managed to work for 5 years, attracting order $2 billion with millions of investors. In 2003, MMM was recognized as a fraudulent scheme, and the founders were taken into custody. However, Sergei said that the collapse of MMM was solely the fault of the state. According to the law, the company had to pay 11 billion rubles to the state in the form of taxes, while 15 were paid. However, the state turned everything upside down so that the founders were forced to pay 50 billion.

"Vlastilina"

The well-known financial scam “Vlastilina”, registered by Valentina Solovyova, gained considerable popularity in 1992. The company accepted deposits at interest and after the deposit expired it gave the opportunity to buy a car or a house with a 50% discount.

However, 1995 was the last year for “Vlastelina”. Valentina was arrested without the right to leave prison less than 7 years later. The collapsed network has deprived 16,000 customers $2.6 million .

"Russian House Selenga"

The company "Russian House Selenga" was founded in 1992. It was also one of the first financial pyramids in the CIS. Sergey Gruzinin and Alexander Salomadin opened more than 70 branches throughout the country, offering investors profits from investments in a chain of supermarkets, transport and tourism enterprises. The scam collapsed in 1994, leaving the 2.4 million participants who contributed with nothing. 2.8 trillion non-denominated rubles .

Since 1992, the Khoper-Invest organization has been building a massive network of points for accepting money at interest. The fraudulent scheme developed a number of dubious companies and exported capital abroad from Russia, exchanging it for foreign currency. The bubble burst in 1997, and the founders were given 8 years. Four million people were defrauded out of 3 trillion non-denominated rubles.

State pyramids

We wanted to dig as deep as possible when considering this scheme. From our research it turned out that almost everything in our world works according to the pyramid principle. Let's look at real examples.

Banks

A bank is a financial institution that accepts money from interested parties for safekeeping in exchange for their use. Banks have the main product thanks to which these “pyramids” exist - credit. Without it, the existence of these structures would not be possible, since the first main instrument is the deposit. Each investor receives 7-12% per annum, so money is constantly leaving the cash register. Only an increased loan rate gives stability to large banks. But history knows a lot of examples when banks burst like a bubble. Do you know why? – because people withdrew their deposits en masse. The cash register is empty, the bank is closed, does it remind you of anything?)

Everyone was young and would eventually become old. The state takes care of the elderly by providing them with a state pension. However, not many people know where this money comes from. While we are working, we pay tax to the state on every salary we receive. Thus, the young provide for the old . It is impossible to say that we pay taxes and then we will receive them in old age. The world of finance is changing quickly, currencies rise and fall - too much is changing. Therefore, while young people give away part of their income, the state pays pensions to older people. As soon as this stops, there will be no pension. There is a banal transfer of money.

Dollar

And of course, it is impossible not to mention the great and mighty US dollar. After World War II, the US authorities carried out a competent policy that made the American country the greatest and richest on the planet. But America does not have as many gold and foreign exchange reserves as dollars that have been issued around the world. According to statistics, only 4% of the total currency is backed by gold. Conclusion: the dollar is a global financial pyramid, which is supported solely by fictitious interests, because the US national debt is $21 trillion.

Famous financial pyramids on the Internet

Fraudulent schemes are recognized to be called. These schemes have all the hallmarks of financial pyramids, so next we will consider the most famous ones.

The Mercury network pyramid appeared at the beginning of 2014. The project was picked up and began to develop. Investors were offered 1% profit every day for a year. The money was placed without guarantees on a voluntary basis, but there were many who wanted to become investors. The hype closed that same year.

Another well-known financial pyramid of our time is Webtransfer. The investment conditions were pleasant and gave participants 0.5-3% profit daily. The company was engaged in microcredit, where anyone could become a lender or borrower. The popularity was extremely high and many were able to become millionaires, but the bubble burst.

Questra World

Questra Worrld, Atlantic Global Asset Management, AGAM called this hype all over again. It has become extremely popular throughout Europe with huge accumulated liquidity. It was proposed to buy investment portfolios that gave from 17% to 26% profit monthly. Thousands were able to get fabulously rich and earn tens of thousands of dollars, since the hype was worthy, but it still closed.

MVK – Millionaires in Sneakers – became a popular platform in 2016. The fund was managed by Vladimir Romanov and gave investors a floating percentage (average 1%). People invested fabulous amounts of money, even sold property. Many got rich, but most lost.

The Bitcoin investment network pyramid Airbitclub has become popular amid the growth of Bitcoin. For marketing, participants received 40% per annum. It was popular on the Internet, but few people made money.

Cashbury

The largest investment project in the CIS in 2017-2018 is Cashbury. Specializes in microcredit. Hundreds of offices were opened throughout Russia, large-scale leadership trainings and massive advertising were carried out. Hype gave up to 1% daily for 400 days. Thousands of people got rich.

The legendary hype DDfutures, whose admin decided to wipe the nose of the entire industry, giving 2.1% of net profit per day from the end of 2016 to 2018. The fund became popular on the MMGP forum, was able to give over 1100% of net profit and turn over more than 1 million dollars over the entire period.

Responsibility for the creation of financial pyramids

All states are fighting against financial pyramids, because they directly affect the well-being of the country. The founders are literally depriving the country of funds, since naturally no one pays taxes. All structures that have signs of a financial pyramid are prohibited in Russia under Article 172.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and bear criminal liability.

According to the law, for creating fraudulent schemes in China and the United Arab Emirates, a severe penalty is provided - the death penalty. If a country does not have a separate article on this matter, fraud may be considered illegal business.

Difference between network marketing and pyramid scheme

Often people cannot understand how network marketing differs from a financial pyramid. Many people believe that they are the same thing - this is a very misconception. Beginners assign similar meaning to both definitions, since the principle is quite similar, and they earn money in a similar way. Conclusion - it's all a scam. The following table lists the main differences between network business and ponzi projects.

Modern operating financial pyramids

Now you know what a financial pyramid is and what its signs are. Almost all sources draw an unequivocal conclusion - it is impossible to make money on investment projects of this kind. It may sound a little rude, but these people are absolutely incompetent on the topic. This article contains a lot of examples from history where people lost a lot of money, but experienced participants made colossal profits. Without exaggeration, many became millionaires without breaking the law. Participation is not illegal.

This type of income is the main one for us, because the area has been studied inside and out. If you follow all the rules, you can earn money, and even very stably, at least read the reviews of the MMGP forum participants. We do not encourage anyone to invest money in banks or such projects - everyone makes their own decision. If the topic is really interesting to you, you can look at the ones that pay on this moment. It is constantly updated, and the blog monitors work in real time. Investing in cryptocurrency, knowledge or keeping money under your pillow is everyone’s choice, but we are personally encouraged by this thought from a wise, successful person:

“Either you control your money, or the lack of it will control you.” Dave Ramsey

About pyramids without teenage naivety

There are many versions about who built the pyramids and how they were built, but I want to touch on only one question - why they were built. Having understood this, we can make further assumptions about who needed to build them.

There are many versions about the purpose of building the pyramids, however, both the official and unofficial versions reveal downright childish naivety. Therefore, I would like to start with a short passage about common sense.

Imagine how much intelligence, talent, organizational skills, and resources are needed to build such a structure as the Great Pyramid. Could this have been done for some distant or abstract purpose? How can a mind that so skillfully and rationally chooses means choose less than rational ends? This is how children judge the actions of adults.

I apologize if my fame offends anyone, but I have the impression that researchers of anomalous phenomena do not particularly need answers as such, clues; they rather need the feeling of being involved in something inaccessible and mysterious. And where they cannot understand simple practical goals, for some reason they often see “deep sacred meaning.”

In this article I want to show that the main purpose of building these structures is the ability to find and identify them as artificial structures even in the distant future. That a whole range of measures have been taken so that after any future disasters, climate changes, or the effects of destructive factors of any nature, these structures can be identified as artificial after the longest possible period of time.

Natural hills do not have completely smooth edges. The pyramidal shape not only emphasizes the artificiality of the structure, but is also the most resistant to earthquakes.

Compliance with the correct proportions is also intended to emphasize the artificiality of the structure. And there is no longer any hidden meaning in this. Indeed, in the very observance of proportions there are no standards; the types of pyramids are very different, their tops are not similar to one another.

Why are the pyramids tetrahedral? Because such a pyramid could be oriented according to the cardinal directions. Why do this? There is no secret meaning in this either - to highlight it as an artificial structure. After all, it could be covered with a layer of soil and overgrown with forest. This was the case with the Bosnian pyramid, which until recently was considered just a mountain. And it has this qualitative sign - the correct orientation is observed.

As a rule, pyramids are located in groups, in a certain order. And this order can make it possible to identify them even in the case of almost complete destruction. There is an expression “you don’t have to look far for an example.” Let's go far away. These pentagonal and oval “mountains” on Mars look somewhat suspicious in terms of their natural origin. But considering that they are also located nearby, and the “face” is oriented along the meridian...

It just has to be “eye-catching.”

The lower half of the Great Pyramid's casing consists of regularly shaped, machined and carefully fitted granite blocks. On the one hand, this is an important strength element of the structure. But on the other hand, even in the event of complete destruction of the pyramid, processed stone blocks from imported rock will clearly indicate that there was an artificial structure here.

Here we can also recall the Bosnian pyramid; the discovery of such blocks confirmed its artificial origin (at least for those who do not have a difficult relationship with common sense).

Stone block pyramids were not built in the middle and high latitudes, where the ground freezes in winter. Water that penetrates the joints of the blocks expands when frozen and this leads to premature destruction of the structure, although, of course, the builders could not foresee all the climate changes thousands of years in advance. However, this factor was also taken into account when choosing the height of the pyramid: a pattern is observed - the further the pyramids are located from the equator, the “squat” they are.

I’ll add something else about the benefits of the tetrahedral shape of the pyramids, as well as their orientation to the cardinal points. I suggest you dream up a little, because the subject of the article is very conducive to this.

Suppose that someone flies up to our planet, on which for some reason life has disappeared, and launches a satellite in a low circular orbit at an angle of 45 degrees to the equator, with four radars, two of which, oriented in opposite directions, strictly scan the surface of the Earth in longitude, and the other two, similarly, strictly in latitude. On satellite locator screens, the smooth edges of the pyramids will give a bright signal. All that remains is to combine the coordinates of the flares from all radars, and in a fairly short time a detailed information about potentially artificial pyramid-shaped objects.

From this fantastic point of view, the pyramids, if they are located nearby, should be placed on a “step” so that they do not interfere with the radar illumination of each other either along the north-south line or along the west-east line.

I am not saying that all pyramids obey this rule, but it is an interesting coincidence. Not all pyramids are oriented to the modern cardinal directions, but the builders could not have foreseen the shift of the planet’s poles. From the same point of view, in principle, it is not necessary to build a tetrahedral pyramid, and in some cases, cutting off only two perpendicularly oriented flat faces from a mountain - this will not reduce the effect of radar detection. The Temple of the Moon in Peru (Trujillo) is located next to a giant pyramidal mountain, which has only two straight sides.

I wouldn’t be surprised if other technical solutions were used to facilitate identification, which we don’t even have an idea about yet. If attention is so diligently drawn to a place, then something is stored there, and this something is worthy of searching.

The proposed unofficial versions about the purposes of the construction of these structures, which mostly boil down to assumptions that the pyramids are some kind of energy installations or long-distance communication devices, have a common drawback. It is enough to remember how much communications and energy facilities have changed over the course of a century. There is no point in building a hydroelectric power station with a safety margin for many thousands of years - a competent engineer would never allow such a senseless waste of resources. Communication means are becoming obsolete literally before our eyes, and building such an “antenna” is even more pointless. But the leaders of the construction of the pyramids do not give the impression of amateurs.

Is it worth reminding that progress never stands still, and the obsolescence of any technical solutions is an inevitable process. Therefore, no one will spend huge resources on the construction of an object that should survive for many thousands of years, if they are not sure that this is a technical solution and after such long term will not become morally obsolete. Let's ask ourselves, what technical solution will remain relevant even in a million years? There is only one answer - this technical solution includes you and me, as carriers of genetic information. Just as for any living being the most important instincts are the instinct of self-preservation and the instinct of procreation, so for any civilization the most important task is the preservation and transmission of its genetic heritage to descendants. Both a colony of bacteria and a highly developed civilization are equally endowed by nature with an inexorable desire for genetic expansion, by any means and at any cost.

Can DNA be preserved like this? long term, if it is known that its half-life is 521 years. If there were no way to protect DNA from decay, the spread of life throughout the universe would simply be impossible. One can, of course, assume that life originated on Earth and we are the only ones in the universe, but this is a personal matter for everyone.

Let's return to the hypothetical situation described above. Reviving life on the planet again using our own, “imported” genetic materials will be an extremely difficult task. In contrast, terrestrial DNA is “tuned” to a certain ratio of chemical elements in the ocean, atmosphere and soil, the amount of solar radiation, radiation spectrum, gravity and atmospheric pressure, and many other factors that are individual on each planet.

Why have we not yet found this kind of message from the past? It is possible that they found it, but did not understand what it was. I now mean the so-called Klerksdorp balls. These are spherical or disk-shaped objects several centimeters in size with longitudinal depressions and grooves like notches, which are found in pyrophyllite deposits near the city of Klerksdorp in the North-Western Province of South Africa. They were discovered by miners in pyrophyllite at the deposit where this mineral is mined. The sediments are approximately 3 billion years old.

In my opinion, these are good candidates for the role of containers with genetic material. Some sources claim that Klerksdorp balls are made of a nickel-iron alloy, and that the fibrous material inside some of them turns to dust when exposed to air. However, it is obvious that it will no longer be possible to extract anything useful from such an ancient “premise”.

It can be assumed that there is a fairly easy way to find and remove containers, but it is illogical to place them very close to the surface of the pyramid. The containers must be protected from any hard cosmic radiation, and they must not be damaged by short-term heating of the surface of the pyramid to temperatures of several hundred degrees. Apparently, despite Various types pyramids, there must be some general rule container placement Alas, we can continue to make even more groundless guesses.

Have you already used “parcels”? Many archaeological artifacts indicate that people like us lived on our planet long before us, disappeared from its face and reappeared in the same form. Suddenly and inexplicably, cultivated plants appeared in different parts of the planet. Genetic studies show that all modern humans are descended from one woman who lived about 120 thousand years ago.

I may be wrong, but I have the impression that of the various versions of historical events, people tend to choose the one that most flatters their ego. And they make it a scientific “fact”.

Levashov Is it true O pyramids

Nikolay Levashov - About the Egyptian pyramids

Sergey Sall: Ancient pyramids around the world

More details and a variety of information about events taking place in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of our beautiful planet can be obtained at Internet Conferences, constantly held on the website “Keys of Knowledge”. All Conferences are open and completely free. We invite everyone who wakes up and is interested...

The Pyramid of Cheops is a rare case in Egyptology when we can be sure who owns the monument. Often the ancient monuments of Egypt were appropriated by later rulers. The technology of appropriation was very simple - the name of the pharaoh-builder (cartouche) was simply lost from the inscriptions in the temple or in the tomb, and another name was knocked out.

This phenomenon was very common. Take, for example, the famous Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Until 1922, when archaeologist Howard Carter dug up, Egyptologists doubted the existence of this ruler. There was almost no written evidence about him; everything was destroyed by subsequent pharaohs.

In the 19th century, archaeologists often used very barbaric research methods. In the Cheops pyramid, gunpowder explosions were used to find hidden rooms. You can still see traces of such methods on the surfaces of structures (see photo on the left).

During this study, small rooms were discovered above the main burial chamber. Explorers rushed there in the hope of finding treasure, but, of course, there was nothing there except dust.

These rooms, only 1 meter in height, had a purely technical purpose. These are unloading chambers; they protect the ceiling of the burial chamber from collapse and relieve mechanical stress. But it was on the walls of these unloading chambers that scientists discovered inscriptions made by ancient builders.

These were block markings. Just as we now put a label on a product, the ancient Egyptian foremen marked the blocks: “This block is for the pyramid of Khufu, produced at that time, laid at that time.” These inscriptions cannot be fake; they prove that this structure was built by Cheops.

A little about Pharaoh Cheops

In the last paragraph we used the name “Khufu”. This is the official Egyptian name of this pharaoh. Cheops is the Greek interpretation of his name, and not the most common one. Other pronunciations “Cheops” or “Kiops” are more common.

The name “Khufu” is more common in the world. If you are going on an excursion to Giza with a Russian-speaking guide, then there will be no problems, he will be aware of this phonetic difference. But, if you communicate with locals or tourists from other countries, we recommend using the name “Khufu”.

Although Pharaoh Khufu is one of the, it is impossible to write much about him. We know very little about him.

In addition to the fact of the construction of this pyramid, we know that Khufu organized expeditions to develop useful resources in the Sinai Peninsula. That's all. To this day, only two artifacts have survived from Khufu - a giant pyramid 137 meters high and a small ivory figurine only 7.5 centimeters high (pictured on the right).

Pharaoh Cheops remained in people's memory as a tyrant ruler who forced people to work on grandiose construction. We can read about this in the works of the Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt and recorded the stories of the priests.

Surprisingly, his father Pharaoh Snofru remained in people's memory as a very kind ruler, although he built as many as three pyramids (and) and overstrained the country twice as much as Cheops.

Nowadays you won’t surprise anyone with working online. For some it's easy additional income, not very big, but allowing you to make ends meet. Someone thus makes money on their whims and caprices that do not fit into family budget. There are also those who do not earn extra money on the Internet, but work and earn enough to satisfy their immediate needs and allow for some excesses.

From the above, the conclusion suggests itself that there is a lot of work in the virtual space, it is paid differently, requires different knowledge and effort, and takes more or less time. This means that everyone can choose something that suits them.

But no matter what our citizens do, everyone secretly dreams of earning so much one day in order to provide for themselves once and for all and no longer “sweat” about money, or rather, the lack thereof. And what is typical is that sooner or later such a dreamer comes across a tempting offer where he doesn’t need to do anything, but needs to deposit a certain amount and just wait until it magically grows a certain number of times, finally resolving all his problems.

Most often, financial pyramids are hidden behind such offers. So what do they represent - a real chance to get rich or a hidden deception? Let's try to figure it out.

So, about the pyramids

Financial pyramids became known to our people long before they began to widely use the Internet. The older generation remembers well the notorious MMM, which is a prime example of such an enterprise. Oh, those were those days! One part of the people was at first euphoric in anticipation of fabulous profits, and then bit their elbows because they were simply cheated. And the second part, at first, envied the first and cursed its own indecision, but after the failure of MMM, it rejoiced at its own prudence and feigned sympathy for the victims.

So let's find out what a financial pyramid is in its essence. This is a structure that does not sell or distribute anything, and all manipulations in it are related exclusively to money. The main task of the organizers of such a project is to attract capital to it by convincing people to invest in their enterprise, and in return promising them a generous reward for attracting new investors. In other words, when you join the ranks of investors, you finance those members of the project who came before you. And in order not to find yourself “in the middle,” you need to bring someone else into it, and preferably more than one. Well, and so on.

If you apply logic, it will become clear that sooner or later any pyramid will burst, since someday the massive influx of new members will end and there will simply be nothing to pay. So here it’s a matter of chance - you can manage to return your contribution and even earn money, or you can simply go bankrupt, since you will find yourself at the very bottom of the project at the time of its bankruptcy.

True, this is a rather schematic description of this phenomenon. There are actually several types of financial pyramids, and we will now look at them, as well as determine how they differ from each other and how to recognize them.

Good old classic

Let's start with an example of an ordinary, so to speak, classical pyramid. We already described it a little at the beginning of the article, but now we will do it in more detail.

The essence of such a project is that a person invests his money in it, which is distributed among those who came to the structure before him. And he is waiting in the wings, but not just waiting, but encouraging friends, neighbors, and simply acquaintances to join the ranks of investors, describing to them their cloudless and prosperous future. If we manage to bring new people, then some part of their money will go to our agitator. They, in turn, must bring newcomers to get their share. And so on until there are no more applicants. Then the enterprise collapses. Its organizers, as a rule, try to disappear somewhere, because in most countries such “business” is prohibited by law. You can only make money here if you attract new people.

Financial pyramids masquerading as MLM companies

These projects can be briefly but succinctly expressed - the same eggs, only in profile. The principle of earning here is the same as in the scheme described above. That is, participants receive certain commission payments for attracted users. But how is it arranged! It’s hard to even talk about a financial pyramid. Yes, and how possible. After all, here they don’t just offer to risk money, they offer some kind of product for it (it can be a service or a product). The pages of such projects are full of words typical of marketing companies. You look, there seems to be nothing to complain about, but the prices are “biting”, and there are a lot of similar offers at more reasonable prices, and few people need them.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that a product is just a cover, a sign behind which hides a banal financial pyramid. And she disguises herself so as not to raise unnecessary questions from anyone in connection with her activities, which, as we have already written, are prohibited in many parts of the globe.

Matrices

We have already looked at 2 different types of pyramids and both can turn out to be “matrices”. They differ from regular ones in the payment scheme. In a regular project, a person receives money immediately after attracting a new participant. In matrix pyramids, money is paid only after completing several levels below you. For example, you brought a couple of people willing, then each of them brought two more, and each of these four brought their own couple, and only then will you receive your profit. That is, 3 lines must be filled and paid under you for you to start getting rich.

Pyramids that don't hide their intentions

And finally, about the most dangerous type of financial pyramids, the activities of which are initially aimed at deceiving investors. They are also called HYIPs, and they are easy to recognize at least by the very high interest rates on deposits. So big that it raises suspicion and stops many people from participating in these enterprises, however, not all.

One of the signs that the hype is about to “die in for a long time” is an increase in interest rates on deposits or other tempting offers. For example, in the same MMM, before its collapse, they promised additional payments 50% of the investment amount for new investments.

To attract investors, HYIPs announce vigorous activity to increase your contributions. Typically, you will be told about participating in high-yield projects or trading securities. Don't believe it. Try to find at least some confirmation of these words - we assure you, it will not work. Add here a not very open scheme for accepting deposits, and you have the picture of a typical scam in front of you.

Is it possible to make money on a financial pyramid?

Definitely yes! We understand that this statement is somewhat contrary to the previous material, but, nevertheless, we repeat once again - you can make money on pyramids, and even a lot of it. But for this you need to meet at least 2 conditions. Firstly, join the project at its very start, when it is just being promoted and the organizers make timely payments to create an attractive image. The second condition is to attract as many people as possible to the project, so to speak, for yourself. The size of your income will depend on this. However, everything is not so simple here, even if you know how to be sociable and persuasive. After all, by and large, you will have to, if not outright lie, then greatly embellish the reality. Agree, tell your friends all the nuances and risks of participating in the pyramid, rarely will anyone agree to follow you. From the point of view of ethics and morality, such half-truths for the purpose of personal enrichment smell bad, but everyone decides these issues for themselves with their own conscience.

Nuances that need to be taken into account so as not to burn out

If you still decide to experience happiness by investing your funds in a pyramid, then consider a few important points that will help you not to be deceived in your expectations:

1. Don’t be greedy and refuse those projects that promise fabulous profits, but at the same time require large investments. This should immediately alert you, since such enterprises are nothing more than one of the relatively legal ways of taking money from greedy citizens. And remember that you can invest in any business only the amount that you can afford to lose without much damage to the usual flow of life.
2. You should not get involved in pyramid schemes that are already old. You risk finding yourself among the last investors who get nothing. Often they do not even have time to return what they invested.
3. Withdraw money as soon as possible. Do not believe the persuasion of the organizers, who will promise you large percentages on your hard-earned money and persuade you to leave them in the project longer. Believe me, there is a very high probability that you will not only not see any profits, but will also lose what you were able to earn.
4. Analyze the situation with the project yourself, and if your instinct tells you that collapse is close, try to withdraw maximum funds. No one will ever warn you about the impending demise of the enterprise; on the contrary, the administration will make every effort to convince you of the opposite.
5. And, of course, try your best to increase the number of attracted users registered under you. Then you will have a chance to make really good money.

What are the advantages of making money on such projects?

Naturally, there are also attractive aspects to this type of online earnings. First of all, this is absolutely free planning of your work schedule. There are no strict frameworks and no “obligations”.

The fact that, if everything goes well, you can quickly return the money invested and earn significant amounts of extra money also inspires many users. Moreover, if people know how to convince others, recruit a large team of followers and receive rewards not only for their work, but also for the work of attracted newcomers. There are financial pyramids that you can leave and continue to receive money from them as a percentage of the income of the group of participants you have recruited. And this is already the source passive income, which, you see, is not bad.

The next advantage of such financial schemes is their accessibility. If you choose a large project, then an initial fee it is unlikely to exceed a thousand rubles (as a rule, its amount ranges from 200 rubles to 1000). And this is not that much money, so anyone can try themselves in this business, if only they have the desire.

Well, in the end, if nothing works out and you feel that this is not your thing, you can quit the game at any time. True, no one will rush to return your money to you, so we do not recommend investing large sums.

Conclusion

Like any other way of making money online, financial pyramids have a right to exist. In the end, so much has been written and said about the risks of participating in them that it is simply impossible not to know this. And if a person nevertheless takes this risk, then no one forces him, it is his decision and only he himself is responsible for the consequences. In addition, as we have already written, you can earn money here, and even a lot. You just need to be hardworking, outgoing, confident and careful.

The phrase “financial pyramid” has become the epitome of deception and fraud. However, today this method of building a business continues to be used all over the world. Entrepreneurs are coming up with new ways, and this phenomenon is not going to disappear. What are the signs of financial pyramids? What is their essence? Let's take a closer look.

Pyramid mechanism

Building a business in the form of a pyramid involves the involvement of ever wider layers of investors who ensure the stability and profitability of the system. The scheme of a financial pyramid is quite simple: new investors provide the return on investment of previous investors. The higher the entry level, the greater the likelihood of making a profit. There is almost zero chance of getting money from those who are at the base of the pyramid, and, as is obvious, they are the majority. The greatest profit is made by those who are at the top, and perhaps near the top. Pyramid investing is not always a scam, but it is always vulnerable. Even a small malfunction in the system can lead to its collapse. Most often, a collapse occurs when one or more large investors want to withdraw investments.

There are several approaches to assessing the nature of pyramidal financial structures: firstly, such enterprises can have different organizational and legal forms, secondly, they are a growing system of debt obligations - the longer such a company can survive, the more debt it will accumulate; thirdly, a pyramid can be considered a type of fraud, although there are some cases where such structures were created for good purposes. But they always act as a means of getting rich quickly, so they raise questions among representatives of the law.

The main signs of financial pyramids

Speaking about the pyramid business, it should be noted that it can be very diverse, and it can be very difficult to immediately recognize a scam. The first most important sign of financial pyramids is the absence authorized capital. Everything happens by attracting new investors. This is highly risky for all participants except the organizers, but it can be very tempting for investors, since the creators of such schemes always guarantee quick and high income. It is the guarantees that are the leading feature, since for legitimate financial schemes there are always risks, so they do not provide guarantees. Typically, such organizations do not have any licenses to carry out financial transactions. They offer for sale unusual financial products, and some own inventions: shares, loan agreements. Also a sign of a pyramid scheme is a clause in the contract stating that in the event of the collapse of the company, the investor does not receive anything and has no right to make claims. There are also signs of financial pyramids associated with promotion: they are always very actively, even sometimes aggressively, advertised; The organizers devote a lot of effort and time to PR campaigns. To hide the lack of real investment or production activity, the organizers use a lot of special vocabulary in their speech; they create the illusion that the scheme is carefully thought out and justified. Whenever attempts are made to delve deeper into the study of the specifics of the company’s work, statements appear about trade secret. Investors are organized into a kind of community of like-minded people, and participants in the scheme are motivated to involve new players. For this they are often offered additional bonuses, most often in the form of an additional share of participation in the business - in the form of a block of shares, for example.

Types of financial pyramids

There are several attempts to classify pyramidal financial structures. These schemes are constantly being improved and modernized, so it is unlikely that it will be possible to cover all types within one typology.

Based on the way the business is organized, one can distinguish “pure” pyramids, which do not conduct any activities at all, except for registering participants and collecting funds, and “camouflaged” ones under the most different types business: foundations, clubs, networks. You can also divide such companies according to the stated purpose of raising funds: some offer income and attract people with promised profits, others work as mutual aid clubs. Some disguise themselves as companies selling some goods or services (more often than others, the Forex market appears in them). There are pyramid schemes that pretend to be social enterprises or non-profit foundations.

Today you can often find organizations that present themselves as consumer cooperatives or alternative programs to formal mortgage and loan businesses. Today, almost every day a new pyramid emerges, and the Internet provides enormous opportunities for their proliferation. This allows such schemes to be divided into online and offline designs. It is also possible to divide pyramids according to the intentionality of causing harm to citizens: there are companies that are initially created with fraudulent intentions, and there are large investment projects that were conceived as a real business, but as a result of errors and miscalculations they turned into pyramids. Often the latter lead to the emergence of financial “bubbles” - an unreasonably high flow of investments into a project, which can provoke a loss of control and destruction of the company.

A special category consists of official pyramidal systems that are supported by the state, for example, this is how pension funds are structured in many states. Current pensioners receive benefits from contributions from future disabled citizens. Despite the fact that the leadership of countries talks about various investments of pension funds, there are often almost no such investments, since the pension burden is in developed countries is getting higher: life expectancy is increasing, the number of working-age population is decreasing, so investing pension funds there is simply nothing, and there are significant risks of collapse of these schemes.

Advertising and promotion

Important signs of financial pyramids are special advertising activity. These companies need very rapid growth of deposits so that people do not have time to start demanding dividends, and at the same time, so that a large amount of funds is quickly formed. These goals are served by massive advertising of financial pyramids, which has its own specifics. Such advertising campaigns appeal to human emotions; they try to lull his rational part and encourage him to take action without thinking. Advertising communications are usually built around a certain person; stars and authoritative figures are often involved. It is very rare to recognize the real leaders of the pyramid. All messages are built on the endless motivation of the consumer: they tell him how he can get rich quickly without doing anything, and give an unclear explanation. The purpose of advertising is to stimulate immediate, irrational action, and it works as a shutdown mechanism. Due to obsession, aggressive demonstration of imminent success and simplicity, and the story that many have already achieved success, but you may not have time, a rush demand is created.

Such organizations pay great attention to PR campaigns: they always have excellent presentations and impressive publications in the media. Communications are often built around a brand character that is designed to inspire trust.

World experience

Our 1990s pyramid schemes were certainly not a new invention. World economy Before this, the country had been repeatedly shocked by the loud collapses of companies and the ruin of citizens. Charles Ponzi is considered the first creator of a financial pyramid in history; today his name has become a household name and is a designation for such schemes. In 1919, he came up with a scheme for the international exchange of coupons, which was supposed to bring huge profits. He managed to find several investors, to whom Ponzi promised 45% of the profit in just 3 months. He did not intend to carry out any exchanges of coupons, especially since they could not be exchanged for money, but only for postage stamps. But the scheme worked; investors simply did not bother to understand the essence of the proposal and began to bring in money. Ponzi began paying the first investors - and this spurred the excitement, money flowed like a river. The pyramid was brought down by a publication in the newspaper, in which the journalist considered that there should be several times more coupons purchased with the money invested than is physically possible. Investors rushed for money, the company stopped operations. Money was found in Ponzi accounts and was divided among the victims. They managed to get back about 40% of their investment, and this was not the worst scenario in history.

After this, the world of finance knew many more pyramid schemes. The most famous of them were the schemes of Lou Perlman, Stanford International Bank, L&G and Yingkou Donghua Trading, V. Feng and many others.

One of the largest long-lived pyramids was created in the USA by B. Madoff. His company was considered a successful investment project; very famous people and many people brought money here large banks peace. For 20 years, Madoff managed to balance, paying out interest by constantly attracting investments. It all ended unexpectedly after the sons of the financier told about the essence of their father's enterprise. In a private conversation, he told them about the secret of his success, and they reported him to the police. Madoff was under investigation for a long time, and at the age of 71 he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Russian history of the pyramids

The founder of pyramidal structures in Russia was Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi. In tsarist Russia there were minor financial pyramids in the form of mutual support funds and mythical investment projects, but they did not reach a large scale. There was no possibility of private investment in the USSR, and therefore such scams were out of the question. Financial pyramids in Russia flourished during the perestroika period. People were overwhelmed by the thirst for earnings, and a stream of scammers did not fail to take advantage of this.

The most famous and largest pyramids, besides MMM, were the companies “Hoper-invest”, “Vlastilina”, “Chara-Bank”, the bank “Russian House Selenga”, “Tibet”. Tens of millions of citizens suffered from their activities. Trillions of rubles were confiscated from them, which were never returned in any amount. The experience of the 90s with high-profile pyramid collapses, trials and searches for culprits around the world reduced the growth of such schemes for some time. But since the 2010s, a new round has begun in the history of pyramids, which are flourishing thanks to the Internet and the invention of entrepreneurs.

MMM

In 1992, Mavrodi Sergei Panteleevich and his brother and wife created companies. MMM, which sold its own shares and tickets, guaranteed income of up to 200% per month. The company itself set the price for the shares; they were not allowed into any free circulation. The shareholders did not receive any financial documents confirming the fact of the purchase. The shareholder could sell shares of the company and make a profit. The main essence of financial pyramids is to attract investors, and MMM has successfully used this mechanism. The population at that time was catastrophically financially illiterate and very trusting, and Mavrodi played on this. For two years the company flourished and grew rich, some investors managed to receive income and thereby contributed to the popularity of the company. MMM was distinguished by a creative approach to advertising: the mini-series about Lenya Golubkov and his relatives became a real motivating film for ordinary people, and the phrase: “I am not a freeloader, I am a partner” became popular among the people. In 1994, claims arose against MMM for non-payment of taxes, but Mavrodi denied these accusations. All this provoked panic among investors, and a collapse of shareholders asking for money began. In 1997, MMM was declared bankrupt, and the creator of the pyramid was accused of fraud. In total, almost 15 million people suffered from MMM activities, but only 10 thousand were officially recognized as victims. The damage is estimated at 3 billion rubles.

New opportunities

The advent of the Internet has led to a new round of development of the pyramidal type of business. The reason that online pyramid schemes have become so popular is the ability for the creators to maintain their anonymity. There are many tools on the Internet for transferring money that are poorly monitored by regulatory authorities. This is what scammers take advantage of. The most common type of financial schemes on the Internet is HYIPs. These investment programs are very high risks Today they offer some income programs. But in fact, profits are made by attracting more and more new players. The organizers of pyramids on the Internet assure that there is no risk in their schemes, since the number of potential participants is still very large. But this argument does not work, since any news feed can provoke panic and the collapse of the pyramid. Also on the Internet today you can find traditional models of pyramids, they are called scams (from the word deception). Such an investment pyramid is designed for the gullibility of people who will not check anything and transfer money. There are models that disguise themselves as games that provide for the sale of some game attributes. Fraudsters launch new projects online every day and almost always go unpunished.

The most famous financial pyramids on the Internet

The most famous online pyramids today are the games “Seven Wallets”, NewPro and MoneyTrain, the virtual exchange “Stock Generation”, organized by the notorious S. Mavrodi, payment systems Perfect Money and Liberty Reserve, the investment pyramid WholeWorld and many others.

Network business and pyramids

Frightened ordinary people today don’t want to just invest money somewhere, so pyramids began to be used as network businesses, which, although they are also not perceived very positively, there are still a number of people who are ready to invest in it. There are many similarities between pyramids and networks, but there are also differences. To distinguish a fraudulent scheme from a real business, it is worth understanding what the difference between them is. MLM business always sells a real product. It may be of different quality, but still it always finds a buyer. They don't require too much of an entry fee. They may offer to buy a starter package of products - then its price should be reasonable and usually preferential for beginners. The network company has a real address, shows constituent documents without any problems, and usually does not hide its top officials. Income in the MLM business depends on the efforts and activity of the seller in sales, and not just on the number of people attracted.

Rules of caution

To avoid getting hooked by scammers, it is worth remembering simple precautions. You should not fall for promises of guaranteed income; in the modern world of finance there can be no guarantees. When joining an affiliate program, you need to estimate the amount of deductions “upwards”. In trading companies it does not exceed 5%, but if they promise to deduct 10% or more, then this should alert you. Wherever you take the money, you need to carefully check the constituent documents, address and contacts of the company. It should be remembered that reviews on the Internet can be moderated and managed by the owners of the pyramid, so you should not blindly trust them.

Responsibility

If a person has a question: how to create a financial pyramid? Then we can recommend the following to him: think about responsibility for his actions, and only after that take action.

All countries around the world are fighting financial fraud with varying degrees of success. In Russia there is a provision for financial pyramids. Amendments to the legislation have come a long way and only in 2016 were they finally signed by the President of the Russian Federation. The main punishment for the creators of this type of business is fines. If you attract more than 1.5 million rubles, the fine will be 1 million. If the pyramid is larger than 6 million, then the penalty will be greater - 1.5 million rubles, as well as forced labor and even imprisonment. The difficulty in bringing fraudsters to justice is that the law on financial pyramids only names the following 5 types of pyramids:

1. Those who do not hide their essence (as was the case with MMM).

2. Companies that present themselves as a legitimate alternative to mortgage and consumer lending.

3. Firms that are secretly used as pawnshops, microfinance and credit organizations.

4. Companies that, under the guise of insurance, refinancing, and debt settlement services to various borrowers, require large incoming contributions.

5. Organizations impersonating players financial market, in particular participants in the Forex currency market. And this list does not exhaust the variety of companies that operate on the principle of pyramids.