What is this lady doing?

Colombiche says on Feb 19, 2008, 18:03:

Stay tuned for the up and coming colombiche spiral plan, 300% return, forget that lady, invest with me and you can all happily retire in Medellin, or Curramba or wherever, I'll send you the montly check.

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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RAAAY says on Feb 19, 2008, 18:09:

Put me in for 10mil........I'll email you with my address

.........Its useless to argue with ignorance

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arthur brode says on Feb 19, 2008, 18:21:

Colombiche,if i invest 300k in your spiral plan what will be my return?:)

http://www.calirentals.net/

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jonas says on Feb 19, 2008, 22:47:

is that the anticonceptivo plan?

Simon Presidente!

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sloopskipper says on Feb 20, 2008, 05:29:

The old pyramid scheme is alive and well, and living in Colombia.

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Colombiche says on Feb 20, 2008, 06:02:

Supposedly it's not a pyramid, because it only functions with a finite number of investors. What's she doing with the money though? Pyramids usually sell something and you profit from what everybody beneath you is selling as well.

RAYY, didn't get your email.... :)

Brode, hold on, I am grabbing my calculator LOL.

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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Colombiche says on Feb 20, 2008, 06:05:

The video

http://www.eltiempo.com/media/produccion/febrero19/index.html

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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kat1 (Moderator) says on Feb 20, 2008, 07:15:

In Villavo this is big, i know many people who invested on this chains and had some money back, is not only the winner there are various in Villavo, it's call La Cadena, many try to tell my sister to do the same, but we heard that if you invest you can't get out of the country, many had said that but i am not sure if is true. many had invested life saving. the funny thing is it's difficult to get this people, some of the people who has invested on this chains are policemen , fiscales, profesionals everybody.

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sloopskipper says on Feb 20, 2008, 07:56:

Colombiche says on Wednesday February 20th, 2008 6:02:

Supposedly it's not a pyramid , because it only functions with a finite number of investors (SHE says). What's she doing with the money though? (WHO knows?) Pyramids usually sell something and you profit from what everybody beneath you is selling as well. (yep yep)

Thank you, but think I'll stay with Fidelity.

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lampltr says on Feb 20, 2008, 08:51:

That is correct, this is not a pyramid, nor is it "Stupid Money Laundering" as enforcement agencies try to peg on someone...The Asian's do this all the time and is great way for those that do not have much in reserves to establish a business, buy a home whatever. It is secretive and people involved needs to be pretty trustworthy people. With the IRS and the like around, this would be illegal to them, but again for those who do not have enough for credit, deposits and the like, it is a good way to bag dinero. Also with the Asians, every month is someone in the group needs the pot quickly for something, then the moderator will let those involved know what the top bid is, this top bidder will then win the pot, entiendes? Hope this explains....
My ex was Korean and this is what we did to get a jump on a business in the states without all the red tape. Many immigrants also arrive in the states with only $8 in their pockets trying to get a start so.... hope this better explains.

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Colombiche says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:01:

Understood. People are very quick to discard any money making scheme they don't understand as "illegal". That is why only a small percentage of the population is rich, because the rest are too dumb to figure out how to do stuff like this.

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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Man Tequila says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:08:

Koreans and Chinese tend to have investment groups within families. This method of raising money is different from the description here.

The lady could be simply seeking investments and paying them back at a lower rate of return than what she personally realizes. This does not make it illegal. However, it could be.

The problems probably start if she can`t realize profits. In Colombia, money laundering would also be a strong consideration, but who can say?

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

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ColombianoGringo says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:08:

Regardless of her claims about some secret formula, this is nothing more than a typical pyramid scheme. I read the article yesterday, but I recall she said that it takes 10 new people to come in per investor so she can pay the high "utilities". If she was such a math genius, she would know that this system will not be able to sustain itself very long. She is a fool and a thief. The bigger fools are the people who are investing in these scams all over Colombia. It is always the same story. The early investors get paid the crazy interest and go tell all their friends. The second wave of people sees this and invests their money only to see the scam collapse and they lose their investment.

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Colombiche says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:12:

Some people invested a couple of mill and collected their earnings so the risk was well worth the reward.

Actually, now that I think about what the Koreans do, it brought to mind the paisa concept of the "natillera".

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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sloopskipper says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:14:

"it takes 10 new people to come in per investor"

That sure fits the description of pyramid.

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ColombianoGringo says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:16:

"De cada persona que mete su plata, yo sacó para pagarle a otras."

From each person that invests their money, I take it to pay other investors.


"Esto funciona como un espiral, en el que una persona entra y da la vuelta en tres meses. En ese tiempo la función mía es conseguir mínimo 30 personas que respalden la inversión del afiliado"

This works like a spiral. in that the person enters and does a three month cycle. In this time, my function is to get a minimum of 30 additional people to cover the investment.


"Nunca se va a acabar porque los ciudadanos siempre van a tener necesidades."

This will never end because people will always have needs/



This sounds like a pyramid to me. Anyone that invests their money in this is an imbecile.

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Man Tequila says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:18:

The fact some people got paid back and made a profit is necessary to attract other people. It is a common feature in scams.

Mathematically, you can`t make something out of nothing using a special formula.

This reminds me of the math problem Gambler`s Ruin. It sure sounds like a sure bet too.

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

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sloopskipper says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:19:

Yep, no new investors, the whole thing probably collapse, like a house of cards.

Sure sounds like Ponzi to this old cynic, the new ones are paying the old ones.

http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/ponzi/

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ColombianoGringo says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:22:

Exactly. This is happening a lot in the southern part of the Huila department. As I said earlier, they pay the first investors so they'll spread the word. One of these places in Pitalito, Huila was just shut down by the CTI yesterday. The ridiculous part is that they operated openly for months and bilked hundreds or thousands of people. I'm sure someone was getting a bribe to let them operate.

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sloopskipper says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:45:

For gain there must be some underlying profitable investment, legal, or otherwise, coconuts, bananas, drugs, guns, illegal immigrants, or whatever.

Like alchemy never was able to produce gold from base metals, magical and secret formulas to produce wealth are nothing but so much smoke and mirrors. Some might get rich, but at the cost of others. Caveat emptor.



As W.C Fields said:
"There ain't no such
thing as a free lunch".

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Mr. Hollywood says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:51:

I like her line, though, that it's not a pyramid, it's a spiral.

The toilet water spinning down the bowl also is a spiral.

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sloopskipper says on Feb 20, 2008, 09:57:

Yeah, that giant sucking sound you'll hear is your money disappearing.

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Colombiche says on Feb 20, 2008, 10:54:

"Sure sounds like Ponzi to this old cynic, the new ones are paying the old ones."

Yeah, that sentence stood out to me as well LOL. I think the people investing are sheep, but you have got to give the lady credit. When she was in court, apparently a bunch of her followers were protesting in her support (or maybe just holding a vigil for their money lol).

She better be careful though because if she doesn't pay up the wrong person, she will be offed in a second. I had a cousin who was a loan shark in Pereira, they put 4 bullets in his head one day while he was having a malteada at the ice cream parlor.

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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sloopskipper says on Feb 20, 2008, 13:25:

Yeah, sort of like swimming in the East River, wearing cement overshoes.

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lampltr says on Feb 21, 2008, 17:51:

MT & CG, you are correct...what this lady was doing is a pyramid....the Asians are a bit different.

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