The tourist financial pyramid, organized by representatives of travel agencies, was “crushed” in Turkey. According to a statement by the Turkish media, eight of the ten suspects have been detained and the arrests are ongoing. Scammers made an estimated profit of 55 million Turkish lire (about 200 million rubles).
The police were contacted by “defrauded depositors”: 30 people complained to the provincial security department because they had been duped with the promise of “high profits”. It was assumed that they would invest money, after which the company’s employees promised to use this money to find owners of houses and yachts, rent them to tourists through a travel agency, and distribute 10% of the profit among the “investors”. However, the fraudsters worked according to the “Ponzi chain” method, aka the classic “pyramid”.
To create an “image”, the travel agency acquired some equipment, including a minibus, 5 motorcycles, and 9 electric cars, “to convince investors that they have the capabilities.” At the same time, there is still no head of the travel agency, the initiator of this “enterprise” among the detainees. His search continues.
Our reference: the “Ponzi chain”, named after the Italian swindler who “operated” in the United States in the twenties of the last century, is essentially a classic “pyramid”. Charles Ponzi himself lured many investors by promising them returns of 50% or higher on postal coupon investments. However, instead of investing the money entrusted to him, Ponzi appropriated it for himself. The scam continued while Ponzi was able to recruit new investors and use some of their money to pay “returns” to previous investors. In fact, this is a classic “pyramid”: the first investors are promised a serious percentage of profit, including at the expense of attracting new participants, with the aim of attracting them, a serious advertising campaign is also conducted. True, the “live money” that the first investors initially receive is obtained from the investments of these newest participants. Sooner or later, the pyramid “collapses”, and most investors do not manage to return their funds.