I was scanning craig's list earlier for freelance jobs I could do on weekends then an ad for Fiffo mentioning the word crypto popped up. I was surprised and happy to see a fellow countryman interested in the crypto space. But 10 seconds into reading their ad(10 seconds too slow I agree) I already knew for a fact that this was a classic Ponzi Scheme.
Here is a video of one of the scammers explaining it himself. Unfortunately the video is in our native language. So grab your nearest Filipino workmate and hire him as a translator:
Again its a classic ponzi scheme where they entice you to join with the promise of getting rich quick without doing anything. You pay them Php 500 ($10) for a potential to earn as much as Php 10,000 ($200) plus bonuses for each person you enter into the program. And we all know how ponzis work, they pay you the promised amount using the money of your "downlines" and the moment that line dries up, news happens and arrests are made.
The sad thing, while you could still earn some money in most ponzi schemes if you enter early(still a scam though, and it is very much illegal to profit from a ponzi scheme), in this scam they pay you with F-Coins which is pretty much worthless.
Proof that earning from Ponzi schemes is illegal:
Scholes v. Lehmann, 56 F.3d 750 (7th Cir. 1995), cert. denied, 116
S.Ct. 673 (1995):
"It is no answer that some or for that matter all of [defendant's]
profit may have come from "legitimate" trades made by the
corporations. They were not legitimate. The money used for the trades
came from investors gulled by fraudulent representations. [Defendant]
was one of those investors, and it may seem "only fair" that he should
be entitled to the profits on trades made with his money. That would
be true as between him and [the principal or his corporations]. It is
not true as between him and either the creditors or the other
investors in the corporations. He should not be permitted to benefit
from a fraud at their expense merely because he was not himself to
blame for the fraud. All he is being asked to do is to return the net
profits of his investment - the difference between what he put in and
what he had at the end."
(ibid. 757-758.)
As we were saying, they pay you with worthless F-Coins which they claim to be worth $0.10. I couldn't find any F-Coins online other than the BTC faucet and this one https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/fx/overview/BTC. And if it is that one(i doubt its that one though), then its worth a whopping $0.0001.
There have been so many exposed ponzi schemes amassing millions from its victims over the past years yet somehow people still fall for them.
