[HN Gopher] $500M Ponzi scheme preyed on Mormons
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$500M Ponzi scheme preyed on Mormons
Author : latchkey
Score : 28 points
Date : 2023-02-04 19:33 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.washingtonpost.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.washingtonpost.com)
| yieldcrv wrote:
| mormons are the ripest for affinity scams
|
| they're really gullible and think everyone is neighborly, but
| especially other mormons
|
| this is corroborated by the data, Utah has the most of these
| scams per capita
|
| https://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/utah-fraud-capital/
| elkos wrote:
| My understanding is that many religious communities are targeted
| by fraudsters like ponzi-schemes, or MLMs (that may in some cases
| be legal but in most cases are financially detrimental).
| boeingUH60 wrote:
| Yeah, but Utah is just an extreme case. I detest reading about
| MLMs and similar fraudulent schemes, but almost every one I
| read about happens to come from there. I'm not Mormon or even
| American...just an outside observer, but what makes that place
| so ripe for these schemes?
| mistrial9 wrote:
| that LDS community is high-trust environment plus many
| barriers to entry.
|
| I suspect that part of the reason one guy shot himself so
| quickly over a money crime is that he knew that the social
| condemnation would be intense and endless, in that world.
| wilg wrote:
| Unsurprising that criminals might target people who have been
| taught to think less critically. I always recommend people not
| participate in religion if they're worried about being scammed.
| latchkey wrote:
| https://archive.is/MzFVz
| jollofricepeas wrote:
| Religion has nothing to do with it.
|
| "Successful Ponzi schemes prey on close-knit communities of
| victims, so-called "affinity groups," which the perpetrators of
| the frauds are either already linked to or can tap into."
|
| This is hacking of the human mind. Within social groups, we
| humans become extremely dumb as we jockey for position,
| acceptance and the like.
|
| The largest and latest Ponzis have happened within the various
| insular tech & crypto communities which have nothing to do with
| religion (ex. OneCoin, Terra, DC Solar).
|
| DC Solar even got Berkshire Hathaway to give them $340 million
| USD.
|
| SOURCES:
|
| - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ponzischemes-
| idUSTRE53R74...
| latchkey wrote:
| > The largest and latest Ponzis have happened within the
| various insular tech & crypto communities which have nothing
| to do with religion
|
| Depending on how to define the word religion, one could argue
| that a community, is a religion.
| dibt wrote:
| Depending on how to define the word potato, one could argue
| that a community, is a potato.
| latchkey wrote:
| By that logic, religion is a potato!
| dahdum wrote:
| > He placed the letters -- along with a note addressed to the FBI
| and a zip drive of computer files -- upstairs on the desk in his
| office.
|
| Forget about the ponzi, I want to hear more about him using a
| _zip drive_ in 2023.
| al2o3cr wrote:
| The investment was pitched as a nearly risk-free opportunity
| to earn annual returns of 50 percent
|
| Preyed on morons, more like. Anybody who believed that pitch
| should call me for a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.
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(page generated 2023-02-04 23:02 UTC)