The Blessing Loom — lessons learned “thanks to” a money-making scheme
This post derived from this original article and also our friends at FOPS who provides more history on Charles Ponzi.
BORROWING FROM PETER TO PAY PAUL IS A SCHEME MADE FAMOUS BY CHARLES PONZI. WHO WAS THIS CROOK WHOSE NAME GRACES THIS SCAM?
Charles Ponzi (1882-1949)
We still hear about Ponzi schemes, or pyramid schemes, as they are more frequently called. Last year, the collapse of dozens of Ponzi schemes in Albania sparked mass rioting that escalated into a national crisis. And in New York, investors were out an estimated $1.5 billion when the Bennett Funding Group, described by regulators as a “massive, ongoing Ponzi scheme,” went belly-up. On the Internet, a company called Fortuna Alliance promised investors monthly returns as high as $5,000; more than 8,600 people bought into the scheme, which was shut down by the FTC in 1996. Fortuna eventually stipulated to an injunction prohibiting its alleged scam. In January 1998, a judge ordered the company to start paying back its investors. The FTC says it is seeking $5 million in refunds for consumers.
Delphine Delchambre was involved in the “Blessing Loom”. You might be familiar as it is starting to pop up on social media. You may have seen your homies post about it. Luring you to drop $100 and get a sexy $800 return. Everything that’s gold doesn’t glitter. What happens to Delphine?
A quick introduction:
“The Loom” or “Blessing Loom” is a money-making venture that has been, digitally, traveling around the world for some time now. To put it short: one is invited, usually by a friend or relative, to join a simple, circular, money-making system — its circular form makes its members believe it is not a pyramid system, but when one would virtually pull up the center of the circle and lift it, one would quickly see the circle evolving into… yes, a pyramid! Entering the system is as simple as paying a small amount of money, which in this case was €150. All you need to start “the game” is a Whatsapp account, some patience and — this is key — you are asked and expected to invite at least 2 or more of your beloved friends, family and acquaintances. The more people you manage to add to the circle, the quicker the movement of it, and thus, the easier it will be for you to make your chunk of easy money. In front of such minimum “work” stands a wealthy reward: you’d end up making €5250. (you can find more about how the money-making actually works, by looking through the diagrams and pictures posted below) So, with a small effort and by spreading the “love” and “positive vibes” of this circle, you’d end up making a staggering €5250 profit in no time! For every person to eventually make this kind of money, the “Loom” needs to always, ad infinitum, keep on growing. 64 new people are needed for every person to gain his or her Loom-boon. Apply some easy mathematics and the truth, flaw and inevitable failure, of this “blessed” system quickly become clear: if one person needs 64 new people to enter the loom to be successful, that means that all those 64 newcomers also need 64 new people to enter for them to make their €5250, which already brings us to 64*64 = 4.096 people. From here the numbers rapidly skyrocket into the thousands, as: 4.096 * 64 = 262,144 new people and so on and so forth, always calculating *64. “A huge number of people that could profit from this easy system”, one could think, and that’s the message the “Loom” likes to spread, but an easy set of calculations helps us to conclude that 64 times more people will eventually get disappointed as every ad infinitum system is bound to fail for there is no way there will ever be enough people to support its growth until the end of time…
Lesson 1: There is no easy money
Lesson 2: Always question, don’t be a sucker for beautiful words, concepts or people
Lesson 3: Follow your intuition. It always guides you in the right direction
Lesson 4: Don’t wait for your savior, be your own hero
Lesson 5: Let ethics guide your way
I hope your money can be a true contribution and can, while it is being invested and spent, be alchemically transformed from something that started off as un-ethical, into something deeply ethical, because this kind of alchemy, this kind of transformation is possible, every day, by, for and through all of us!
