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How “fraudulent” is one industry compared to another industry? To try and calculate this you’d have to ask the question, “What is the damage done by the fraud?” In the case of pyramids it would be loss of money. So in order to quantify how fraudulent one industry is, you’d have to compare it to another or other industries where people lose money. A news reporter can claim, “People have lost millions of dollars in these pyramid schemes.”
Is that a lot? Compared to what?
NOTE: I am not discussing MLM here, I’m discussing illegal pyramids.
In the US during the 2000’s, I was able to find:
Trade Commission vs. BigSmart - $5 million
Gifting Clubs - $16 million
Professional Resource Systems - $13 million
FTC vs. Skybiz - $20 million
That totals about $54 million.
Is that bad? If so, how bad? Let’s compare it to some other “losses.”
The largest financial losses to mankind in the 21st century (and throughout history) have been in the US stock market.
The stock market lost 9 TRILLON dollars of people’s money (January 2001 to October 2002)!
