From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 14:58:11 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Ponzi Schemes (was Re: non-censorous spam control)
In-Reply-To: <199708042057.WAA23756@basement.replay.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970804232822.00769af8@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



>>still running a pyramid scheme: he accepts "voluntary donations"
>>from an investor, in return for a "voluntary donation" at a later
>>date whose amount and time are not guaranteed and depend on
>>the "donations" collected from others. The Russian government
>>does not shut down Mavrodi's latest operation so far, claiming
>>it's not "fraud" since he doesn't misrepresent the source of
>>his returns nor the risks involved. Reportedly so far he's

A cheerful Ponzi scheme from the late 70s was the
Church Of Hakeem, in Oakland.  Hakeem Rasheed preached a lot about
Prosperity!, and how it could be Yours!  if you just had Faith!
It cost about $300 to be a priest, and once you were a priest,
you could lend the church money and get it back at some
outrageously high interest rate, like 100% per month.
Believers were making scads of money, just hand over fist.
Everybody was shocked when the church was robbed of several
hundred thousand dollars one night, and shortly thereafter
Hakeem was so depressed he skipped town, the poor guy.
	(huh huh, huh huh, depressed, huh huh)

On the other hand, the Social Security Trust Fund is just fine, thanks.

Fortunately, while encryption isn't getting blamed for Ponzi schemes yet,
anonymity is getting some of the fallout from spammers who are 
running them from behind forged mail headers, so we could still get hosed.



#			Thanks;  Bill
# Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com
# You can get PGP outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp
#   (If this is a mailing list or news, please Cc: me on replies.  Thanks.)