iCon Fraud Unveiled: Lessons in Greed and Hard Truths

[brfsa2]

1 hour ago, proton said:

 

The biggest ponzi scheme ever 

I assume you are referring to BTC. Yeah, I hear of that for the past 7 years.... 

and because of that I will post why it's not, but for others to know, not for you.

 

Some people believe that Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme because they don't really understand what a Ponzi scheme is or how Bitcoin works.

 

Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme. Bitcoin differs from a Ponzi scheme in several ways, such as:

Transparency:  Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, which allows anyone to verify them at any time. Ponzi schemes require secrecy to operate.

Decentralization: Bitcoin is a decentralized asset, meaning it's not controlled by a third party or person.
Value: Bitcoin doesn’t rely on new investors to pay returns to earlier ones. Instead, its value is determined by market demand and supply, like other currencies and commodities. Ponzi schemes promise high returns with little risk, but the returns are actually paid out using funds from new investors.

Bitcoin can be highly speculative and its price can be very volatile, but it's not a Ponzi scheme.

 

And, it’s super important to note that the cryptocurrency space has seen its huge share of fraudulent schemes, like OneCoin, which was a true Ponzi scheme. So, while Bitcoin itself isn’t a Ponzi scheme, it’s crucial to be cautious and do thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.

[sumongkhwai]

I do appreciate the chosen name for the "scheme"; iCon, almost as if they were straight up up in the name, presentation etc.. iCon, weCon, we just take all your money ching ching.

[chickenslegs]

It's hard to feel sorry for anyone involved in this scheme. Even those at the lower end of the pyramid must have known that the only way to get a return on their "investment" was to recruit more victims - often family or friends.

 

 

[still kicking]

6 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

It's hard to feel sorry for anyone involved in this scheme. Even those at the lower end of the pyramid must have known that the only way to get a return on their "investment" was to recruit more victims - often family or friends.

 

 

Similar to Amway

[pacovl46]

I'm sorry, but this article doesn't "unveil" anything! I expected it to tell me exactly what the scheme was, instead it's just beating around the bush. 

[john donson]

a bit like the scammers that google still allows when you type interest rate Thai banks and you get the scammy 10% return, while thai banks give around 2% ...  also a company that misuses , confuses, using a big insurance name ripoff to make you think they are legit...

[Dr B]

16 hours ago, brfsa2 said:

The only true way to really get rich in the long term: Bitcoin.

and that needs a lot of patience. 
 

It is the only true value now and in the the decades to come, where no government can manipulate it, or create out of thin air as they do with money today.

 

 

The main thing that Bitcoin, pyramid and Ponzi schemes, and the iCon scheme have in common is greed. Wanting to make a fast buck. There is nothing whatever behind Bitcoin, so it relies on supply and demand. Initial the value was set low, the supply was low, so demand caused a dramatic increase in value, over time from 20c to $60,000. Anyone who got in early and sold out early will have made a lot of money. But now demand is slowing down, and maybe drying up. In the early days people easily made 10x or 100x their investment, but those days are gone. It makes no sense that someone buying in at $60,000 will make 10x their investment. Maybe 10% if they are both patient and lucky. I very much doubt that any current Bitcoin holders bought in at 20c, but there must be investors still in there for whom the price could fall substantially and they will still make money. The proble is those who bought in recently at a high price. If demand dops and prices start to fall, some will keep their cool but some will panic and sell at a loss. That will fuel a further dop in price, and the bubble could very easily burst. How you think it has a "true value" I have no idea.

[mdr224]

7 minutes ago, Dr B said:

The main thing that Bitcoin, pyramid and Ponzi schemes, and the iCon scheme have in common is greed. Wanting to make a fast buck. There is nothing whatever behind Bitcoin, so it relies on supply and demand. Initial the value was set low, the supply was low, so demand caused a dramatic increase in value, over time from 20c to $60,000. Anyone who got in early and sold out early will have made a lot of money. But now demand is slowing down, and maybe drying up. In the early days people easily made 10x or 100x their investment, but those days are gone. It makes no sense that someone buying in at $60,000 will make 10x their investment. Maybe 10% if they are both patient and lucky. I very much doubt that any current Bitcoin holders bought in at 20c, but there must be investors still in there for whom the price could fall substantially and they will still make money. The proble is those who bought in recently at a high price. If demand dops and prices start to fall, some will keep their cool but some will panic and sell at a loss. That will fuel a further dop in price, and the bubble could very easily burst. How you think it has a "true value" I have no idea.

Ill reference your post at election time when bitcoin climbs to 100k

[retarius]

These Ponzi schemers prey on greedy people. I have little sympathy with greedy people, even if they are naive and credulous. 

[brfsa2]

9 hours ago, Dr B said:

The main thing that Bitcoin, pyramid and Ponzi schemes, and the iCon scheme have in common is greed. Wanting to make a fast buck. There is nothing whatever behind Bitcoin, so it relies on supply and demand. Initial the value was set low, the supply was low, so demand caused a dramatic increase in value, over time from 20c to $60,000. Anyone who got in early and sold out early will have made a lot of money. But now demand is slowing down, and maybe drying up. In the early days people easily made 10x or 100x their investment, but those days are gone. It makes no sense that someone buying in at $60,000 will make 10x their investment. Maybe 10% if they are both patient and lucky. I very much doubt that any current Bitcoin holders bought in at 20c, but there must be investors still in there for whom the price could fall substantially and they will still make money. The proble is those who bought in recently at a high price. If demand dops and prices start to fall, some will keep their cool but some will panic and sell at a loss. That will fuel a further dop in price, and the bubble could very easily burst. How you think it has a "true value" I have no idea.

 

 

Quote

But now demand is slowing down, and maybe drying up. In the early days people easily made 10x or 100x their investment, but those days are gone. It makes no sense that someone buying in at $60,000 will make 10x their investment

I would argue it's not dying down on demand, rather it's stabilizing, What is happening is the reduction of new coins being mined (Supply).

 

The stabilization is caused by many factors, one of them is that there less room now to manipulate the price like it was easier years ago. The image I shared is BTC vs Gold stability, btc volatility is reducing over the years, getting close to gold.

 

Sure you can cannot make anymore 10x or 100x quickly like before, however it's still possible to get 2-10X withing the next 10 years. compared to even the best performance stocks, this is really good return.  if you want to get that much returns on stock it's hard, you got be like Waren Buffet to find the crown jewels like BYD, nvidia, tsmc, Apple stocks.

 

https://bitbo.io/volatility/

 

 

Have a look: https://bitbo.io/volatility/

in the image you can see volatility of BTC vs Gold.

 

Edited October 19 by brfsa2
fixed a typo

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

This is small potatoes compared to the Mae Chamoy Thipyaso chit fund scheme that ran from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. When it unravelled, it threatened the solvency of some Thai banks. The perpetrator was eventually sentenced to 141,078 years in prison. Also very interesting to see how high up in Thai society the scheme managed to reach.

[chickenslegs]

9 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

This is small potatoes compared to the Mae Chamoy Thipyaso chit fund scheme that ran from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. When it unravelled, it threatened the solvency of some Thai banks. The perpetrator was eventually sentenced to 141,078 years in prison. Also very interesting to see how high up in Thai society the scheme managed to reach.

 

Wow!

But ...

According to Wiki, she only served 4 years of that sentence.

"On 27 July 1989, Chamoy and seven accomplices were convicted of corporate fraud. She was sentenced to a total of 141,078 years or life imprisonment sentence in prison but Thai law at the time stated that the maximum sentence that could be served for fraud was 20 years. Her sentence was further reduced, twice, and she was released in 1993.^[1]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamoy_Thipyaso

 

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

14 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

 

Wow!

But ...

According to Wiki, she only served 4 years of that sentence.

"On 27 July 1989, Chamoy and seven accomplices were convicted of corporate fraud. She was sentenced to a total of 141,078 years or life imprisonment sentence in prison but Thai law at the time stated that the maximum sentence that could be served for fraud was 20 years. Her sentence was further reduced, twice, and she was released in 1993.^[1]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamoy_Thipyaso

 

 

 

What I find most interesting about this scheme isn't necessarily the length of her sentence or how long she served, but who was taken in by this scheme and what happened when it went bust. The Wikipedia page does not go into these details for understandable reasons, but this information is available elsewhere on the internet with a bit of digging. 

[Thumbs]

Are the people who invested that dumb? Pyramid schemes are hardly a new thing, they were happy at the idea of becoming rich at the expense of the people they were planning to enroll/dupe. Only started to complain when they discovered they weren’t high enough in the pyramid to profit 

[sammieuk1]

Just so everyone gets reassured hundreds of cars, watches, boats, houses, land, gold bars, and a myriad of trinkets  are in the safe hands of the police the legal pyramid scheme 🤔

[impulse]

On 10/18/2024 at 7:35 PM, proton said:

The biggest ponzi scheme ever 

 

Hi tech version of tulip bulbs.

 

But it's different this time.  Really.

 

Edited October 20 by impulse

[Photoguy21]

On 10/18/2024 at 8:48 AM, MikeandDow said:

All founded on lies, which seems to be a Thailand trate!! 

Not just Thailand but most countries.

[StraightTalk]

On 10/18/2024 at 2:31 PM, smew said:

Uneducated gullible naive people

It makes me wonder how they manage to secure the funds to invest in the first place.