You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

In 1903 Charles Ponzi arrived in the USA with the aim of becoming as wealthy as Rockefeller. His modus operandi was based on the principle of robbing Peter to Pay Paul. James Walsh, in his informative book, You Can`t Cheat An Honest Man: How Ponzi Schemes and Pyramid Frauds Work..and Why They`re More Common Than Ever, traces the origins of the Ponzi Scheme, and explores how and why the scheme works with its different modern day variations. The first part of the book narrates how, after spending some time in prison for cheque forgery, Ponzi found a creative way to shaft people, that was even legal and possibly sound. What Ponzi would do was to take advantage of the disparities in the foreign exchange rates pertaining to the postal currency of International Reply coupons. If these coupons could be purchased in countries where they were still hit hard by the after-effects of World War I, he could then redeem them for stamps or cash in the USA, where there value would be as much as 50% higher. Presto! He was onto a brilliant scheme, however, he needed money to expand his enterprise. In order to raise the needed cash, he promised investors that he would pay them high rates of interest with the profits from his scheme. As is the case today, people were gullible and greedy, and Ponzi had little difficulty in attracting huge sums of money. However, Ponzi found it difficult to keep meeting his obligations of paying his investors. He resorted to using fresh money to keep his original investors satisfied. And thus began the Ponzi Scheme, that is alive and well today with multiple variations on the original theme. One such variation is the very popular pyramid sales scheme, where individuals are seduced to become part of a plan for the sale or distribution of goods, services or other property, and wherein they acquire the opportunity to receive monetary compensation, which has little to do with the volume or quantity of goods or services sold but rather on the number of additional persons that could be recruited to join the plan. The author devotes considerable print to these schemes, as well as making reference to the abundance of jurisprudence that defines and outlaws these plans. Anyone wishing to protect himself or herself, would do well in thoroughly reading the concluding chapter. It is here where we are given some very sound advice- to be wary of get rich schemes, watch out for deals that offer high yields, if you do not understand the investment, stay away from it, seek professional advice before investing in anything and check out who are the promoters. Walsh has a sharp eye as to important details, and with his wide use of informative examples, readers receive a comprehensive understanding as to just how wide spread these fraudulent schemes are and how not to be seduced by them. Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures.com

Some books may not be particularly recent publications but deserve renewed attention and ongoing recommendation in light of modern events or contemporary concerns: James Walsh's You Can't Cheat An Honest Man: How Ponzi Schemes And Pyramid Frauds Work...And Why They're More Common Than Ever is one of them, focusing on how pyramid frauds work, why they're common, and how to avoid scams and cons. The scheme name may change but the scheme is the same: it involves case studies in greed and exploitation, outlined in You Can't Cheat An Honest Man so that investors may learn from the woes of the 'taken'. As relevant today as it was in 1998.

Alot of people think that network market is a semi-legal pyramid scheme, but not all network marketing companies are a pyramid. If many of you do your research, you'll see that companies such as life plus, melaleuca, market america, etc. are true network marketing companies they'll really compensate you if you refer people to their company & products. Before anyone pre-judges a network marketing company, do your research on each company, plan, products, etc. The true pyramid schemes are the one's that you get in the mail that ask you to send between a $1 - $5 to each name & address, and in return, you'll make millions within a few months...that's a true pyramid scheme, I know because I've lost money to these pyramids through the mail. I now know how to tell the difference between a pyramid & a real opportunity. These pyramid schemes give real & great network marketing companies a bad reputation. So again, do your research on a company before enrolling or sending out money. There are truly real gold mines out there, so please do your research by reading articles on them, and check the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) . Thank you.

This book explains ponzi scheme after ponzi scheme, in an interesting, informative way. The people who run these schemes (called "perps") use seemingly endless variations but it all comes down to the same thing: robbing peter to pay paul. The perp offers a guaranteed return on investment, usually an outrageous amount, usually in a short period of time. The explanation for why the perp can give this huge return is basically a varation on the same theme: he has an investment vehicle that will return him even bigger profits then what he's giving you but he needs your money to expand his operation. Just a few problems with this. First of all, the activity that the perp claims to me making these huge profits from are usually just a cover to take people's money. If the perp actually does use the money for some kind of trade or investments, he typically looses in much of his trading or, even if he is good at it, he has too much money flowing in from the "investors" to keep up. The money just comes too fast even if he has good intentions so...Here comes robbing peter to pay paul, in other words, paying early investors with later investors money. Its always doomed to fail because it is based on continual growth that cannot possibly be maintained. Ponzi scemes can still last for years however, depending on many factors. This book beautifully explains these things in example after example.This book also talks about multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes in depth. Also, what should you do if you have been taken by a ponzi scheme? This book offers a number of chapters of advice.One of the most important points this book makes is that the biggest ponzi scheme of them all is run by our own government. This is the politically untouchable program of Social Security!

If you've ever wondered how pyramid schemes get started and how they unravel, this book makes an interesting read. You will be both amazed and appalled at the mass stupidity involved in getting these schemes off the ground. However, you might feel a little foolish yourself when the author points out that our very own Social Security System is a textbook Ponzi scheme.