The Maths

(This people from India have figured it out)

The MATHEMATICS behind QUESTNET

The SCAM Revealed

Pure money laundering:

1st step - U register and Buy 

- You have product only.

- Company has 30000

2nd step - U bring two direct referrals.

- You have Product only

- Company has 90000

3rd step - they bring two referrals each

- U have Product and 1st cheque of 10,000

- Company has 210,000 

4th step - they bring two refferals each

- U have Product and 2nd Cheque of 10000 (so total you have 20,000). Persons who joined at step 2 have Product and 1st cheque of 10000, so total money in incentives paid is 40000 total and company has 450,000.

5th step - they also bring two refferrals each

- U have Product and cheques which when added to all U have already earned come to 40,000, persons joined at second step have Product and 20,000 each and people at step 3 get their first cheque of 10,000 and people at step 4 have Product only and company has 930,000

- And here 7 members who have at least some cheques but 24 people have nothing but just the Product.

6th step - 15 are earning but 48 have nothing 

7th step - 31 are earning but 96 have nothing but just Product.

8th step - 63 are earning but 192 have nothing. 

9th step - 31 have recovered money, 96 get little and 384 have nothing... and so on. But always the number who have only the Product is always much much more than the who have earned at least some money. And the people who have recovered money is just 31 when 384 have still to do it but to do that no. Of those who have nothing will become 1286 people... 

So always the ones at the bottom of the pyramid are the losers. And the only way left for them to move upwards in the pyramid (i.e.: earn money) is to lure others into the last layer. This is done after realizing that the last layer is always the losers. It is a sad fact that in the frenzy to get back the lost money relationships are often forgotten. It is often your close friends or family members who occupy the layer under you. 

Even then the chances that you will make money is very remote. It is clear that the company, including the few people at the very top layer are making huge profits. The sad fact is that the money thus generated is not even being used in INDIA. It is flowing out of India. This is the same money that could very well be spent in strengthening our economy.

If you buy a kg of rice not only are you investing in something that is useful to you, but also, you are indirectly supporting the family of some poor farmer somewhere. 

STOP THIS SCAM! 

BE THE CHANGE!

__________________________________

I am member of QUESTNET and after joining their program this is what I felt. Friends now I realized that this is not the good way to make money, we are not generating wealth & just falling into a trap. It is a real problem. Just look what I had concluded. 

Suppose there is a binary tree in which we are moving, at the time it started in India in at only its 25th level it will have 33, 554, 432 members (this would be many many times the total number of people in India who are earning more than few thousand per month) bhai & on just its 32th level it would be 4,294, 967, 296 which is 429 crores which is many many many folds larger than the total number of earning people in the whole world. (Total population of the world is (6,602,224,175 - July 2007) only.

Note this for an estimate to where we are heading. Also in the best case of the complete binary tree you would know that only 20 % of the people who are in the upper layers would get some money (less than 10 % people will get there complete money back with some profit) & rest of the 80 % people who are in the bottom layers would not get anything (as you we have to make 3 new members in left & right subtree), so it is definite scam to con people, this money would not be of any good to us even if we get something it would just be fooling our more friends, fellow countrymen & giving that money to this company, so better is to avoid it completely.

Company is earning great amounts from our foolishness. In our mind, we are saint. We want to help as many people as possible but in reality, we are helping these conmen to con more people. It should be avoided any cost yaar. I was just late to think about it. But never mind & if you pass on these comments to the people who are becoming part if this. Hopefully they should not join this company. Also such money earned is always bad when you know that definitely so many people would lose theirs. Think over it before joining.

Asian Tribune Report

  

France 24 Report

News From Sri Lanka 3

News From Sri Lanka 2

News From Sri Lanka 1

 

16 May, 2007 12:45:42

Beware

Sri Lanka warned to be vigilant against pyramid schemes following arrest of Goldquest leaders

May 16, 2007 (LBO) – An international anti-pyramiding activist has called on Sri Lanka to be vigilant against multi-level marketing schemes that can invade the country following the arrest of top Goldquest operatives in Indonesia.

"Treasure Traders International and, more recently, Canadian Diamond Traders, are similar scams that are recruiting victims worldwide," Robert Fitzpatrick, head of the US-based Pyramid Scheme Alert told LBO.

"I hope that Sri Lanka can maintain its vigilance against these scams, despite their false claims about being legitimate 'sales' companies.

"These are not sales companies, but money transfer schemes that require a huge loss rate based on their designs."

Cult Sell

Some analysts have calculated the loss rate of the double-pyramid 'binary compensation' structure used by Goldquest to be as high as 98 percent, indicating that only 2 percent of the participants make money.

Its products are sold through intensive selling meetings where people are repeatedly given the same message until it is ingrained in their brains in a cult-like fashion.

Goldquest's Quest International (QI) group Chief Executive Vijayeswaran Vijayaratnam is said to be held in 'demi-god' status by his follows.

"Endless chain schemes have almost mystical power over people. They arouse hope, passion and confusion. They promise 'unlimited' income, an almost divine power," Fitzpatrick said in a presentation made when he visited Sri Lanka for a regional central bankers conference against pyramiding.

"Promoters can take on god-like authority and power, since they hold the reigns to this mystical power."

Classic Model

Goldquest's main website now goes as Qatana.com. The firm claims to sell 'numismatics' but its main products are medals.

"Gold Quest claims to be an ordinary multilevel marketing program of the types that are operating openly in the USA and other countries," Fitzpatrick has said earlier on a notice posted at www.falseprofits.com.

"Its business model is a classic MLM program in which each new investor recruits others in an 'endless chain.'

"Little actual retail selling occurs. Each 'distributor' is also the 'customer'," he adds.

News reports from Indonesia said the firm had misused the image of former President Abdurrahman Wahid to recruit his followers into Goldquest schemes.

Previously images of religious leaders, the Pope, Mother Theresa as well as Benigno Aquino had been used to make medallions, which were then sold as 'coins'.

Goldquests activities have been banned in several countries, including, Bhutan, Nepal, and and its officials arrested.

Arrest Quest

Last week, the public face of the organization, Vijayeswaran Vijayaratnam, director Joseph Luis Tomacruz Bismark, and two other senior executives, Donna Marie Glen Imson and Tagumpay Pablo Perez Kintanar were arrested in Indonesia.

The Goldquest kingpins were believed to have been arrested following an MLM upliners' promotional conference called V-Jakarta. The scheme's top promoters are labelled the V-Team.

In 2003 Imson had been arrested in Nepal after conducting a promotional conference together with an Indian national, Tanbir Nijam, according to Nepalese media reports.

Chennai police have also previously arrested Goldquest officials.

The Indonesian arrests stemmed from an Interpol request on a warrant related to a fraud in the Philippines.

"One of the complainants lost $625,000 to the suspects," ABS-CBN News of the Philippines said.

"The suspects went into hiding after a manhunt was launched against them. Interpol also placed them in its wanted list."

International Web

ABS-CBN News quoted Ric Diaz, regional director for criminal intelligence at the National Bureau of Investigation as saying that GoldQuest International, were able to victimize people across Asia adding that the suspects had offices in the region's financial districts.

Interpol also lists Georg Kurt Rocco Rinck as a wanted man, who activists say is the brains behind Goldquest's binary compensation plans.

However in the past Goldquest operatives had somehow managed to get loose whenever they were arrested.

Though Sri Lanka brought an anti-pyramid law to combat Goldquest and even arrested 7 of its upliners, the unit that investigated Goldquest was later disbanded amidst much controversy.

Fitzpatrick says MLM scams "corrupt local officials by offering them a position 'at the top' to gain entry into a chain."

But this week Sri Lanka's Sunday Times said the central bank has resumed investigations into Goldquest, though no mention was made of the progress of the case against operatives caught earlier.

Goldquest has also been channelling money in to Sri Lanka's equity markets without any official action against them so far, though investee firms, especially banks like NDB, have waged a lone battle with whatever means at their disposal to block Quest International (QI group) related purchases.

Sri Lanka now has anti-money laundering legislation in place.

Meanwhile reports said a team of ten police officials were due to fly to Indonesia to bring back the arrested Goldquest leaders, but the company's lawyers were fighting extradition.

News From Iran

Iran busts more pyramid scammers

Sun Aug 1, 2010 1:59AM

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry says 10 major members of a company called Viprol, which was involved in pyramid schemes, have been arrested.

Intelligence agents arrested the suspects in Tehran, Kerman, Bushehr, and some other provinces after several plaintiffs filed complaints against the company, an Intelligence Ministry official in charge of combating pyramid scam companies announced on Saturday, the Tehran Times reported. 

The company had been active in cyberspace under the guise of e-trade and investment in international stock markets, oil and gold markets, advanced industries, and arms sales. 

“They robbed people and then closed down their website. As a result of follow-ups by the ministry's agents, the main members of the network were identified and arrested,” the official added. 

The official also said some companies, which claim they have obtained official certification permits to run marketing activities via the Internet, have not been granted permits. 

In January, the Intelligence Ministry announced that 15 companies involved in pyramid schemes had been identified and forced to discontinue operations in Iran. 

Palinure, Inviting, Golden Village, FSG, Griffin and Gold Quest were some of the companies that were shut down in Iran. 

The source recalled that after the closure of over 410 offices of the pyramid company Gold Quest in Tehran, a large number of the leaders of the company said they were ready to halt their activities and somehow satisfy the people who had lost their money by investing in the fake company. 

Gold Quest is a global network marketing company that claims to be engaged in selling coins and watches that are said to have numismatic value. 

Network marketing companies work on the principle of the pyramid scheme, a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme. 

Network marketing differs from pyramid selling (pyramid schemes) in that the latter is a financial fraud and those who deal in this kind of business can be prosecuted based on a relevant law ratified in 2006, which imposes a ban on the activities of pyramid selling companies in Iran. 

According to the law, everyone who cooperates with these companies is disrupting the economic system of Iran and is legally responsible. 

Gold Quest, believed to be involved in one of the largest economic corruption cases in Iran's history, was banned in by Iran in 2005. Prosecutors found the pyramid company's activities have led to the exit of half a billion dollars from Iran. 

Pyramid schemes have been banned in many other countries, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Malaysia, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. 

AS/HGL 

News From Canada

Canada regulators say Gold-Quest a Ponzi scheme

CALGARY, Alberta | Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:03pm EST

(Reuters) - Securities regulators in the Canadian province of Alberta said on Thursday that Gold-Quest International Inc was a classic Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of $29 million with the promise of sky-high returns from foreign currency trading.

A panel convened by the Alberta Securities Commission said Gold-Quest, operated from Las Vegas but registered in Panama, promised investors an 87.5 percent return on money invested in the company for one year, as well as payments for convincing others to invest in the scheme.

The commission also said Gold-Quest illegally distributed securities in the province and made untrue statements about the safety of the investments and anticipated returns."Gold-Quest International Corp. raised approximately US$29 million from approximately 2,940 investors ... through a sham investment scheme that was both a classic Ponzi scheme and a classic pyramid scheme," the commission said.

The firm operated from June 2006 to May 2008, when it was shut down by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A number of such schemes, which use cash from new investors to pay returns to earlier participants, have been uncovered in North America since an estimated $65 billion swindle by financier Bernard Madoff was revealed in December 2008.

In its decision, the commission said Gold-Quest investors were told the firm had developed proprietary strategies for trading currencies, which generated high returns. However most of the money raised was paid out as commissions and the firm did no currency trading.

No officials from Gold-Quest could be immediately located for comment. The panel will meet again in March to decide on penalties.

(Reporting by Scott Haggett; editing by Rob Wilson)

News From The U.S.

Gold-Quest owners face fines, jail time if assets not surrendered

BY JOHN G. EDWARDS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Posted: May 15, 2008 | 10:00 p.m.

A federal judge on Wednesday told representatives of an alleged Indian enterprise called Gold-Quest International that he would fine individuals up to $1,000 a day and order them jailed if they continued to violate his order to turn over assets to a receiver.

The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Gold-Quest, which operated out of 11086 Crystal Crest Court in Las Vegas, of cheating 2,100 U.S. and Canadian citizens out of a total of $27.9 million.

Investors were told Gold-Quest could make large profits trading foreign currencies, but the SEC alleges that Gold-Quest was operating a Ponzi scheme. In a Ponzi scheme, the first investors are paid by money from later investors.

U.S. District Judge Lloyd George on May 6 froze the assets of Gold-Quest and appointed Cook Receiver Services of Lenexa, Kan., to serve as receiver.

The receiver has located $148,000, or less than 1 percent of the money entrusted to Gold-Quest.

SEC officials say Gold-Quest defendants are defying the judge's order.

At the hearing Wednesday, the judge said he was sending deputy U.S. marshals to accompany the SEC in recovering records and assets from Gold-Quest.

"You better cooperate," George told John Jenkins, one of three individuals named as a defendant. "I entered the order, and I expect it to be complied with in every respect," the judge said.

George scheduled a hearing for May 23 so that Jenkins may show cause as to why he should not be fined $1,000 a day and jailed for violating the court order.

The judge questioned why Jenkins and Michael Howard Reed, who claims to be attorney general of the sovereign Little Shell Nation, were 45 minutes late for the hearing. Reed and Jenkins blamed their tardiness on traffic.

George also seemed annoyed that Jenkins left to feed a parking meter and was absent when the delayed hearing started.

Reed acknowledged that he had no law degree except from the Little Shell Nation, a tribe of 3,800 Indians living on a reservation that spans North Dakota, Montana and Canada.

The SEC says that neither the United States nor Canada recognize the tribe, but Reed told a reporter that President Lincoln recognized the tribe. All three individuals charged in the case -- Jenkins, Michael McGee and a man called Lord David Greene -- are members of the tribe, Reed said.

The other defendants didn't attend the hearing.

Reed said that Greene was out of the country. Michael McGee answered the phone at Gold-Quest shortly before the hearing. McGee said the lawsuit identified him as an owner of Gold-Quest but he said he was only an employee.

McGee said Gold-Quest was engaged in foreign exchange trading and wasn't operating a Ponzi scheme.

"There are a lot of things being printed that aren't true," McGee said.

"The SEC thinks a whole lot of things," he said. "I don't know that I want to continue this conversation."

Reed told the judge that the company was properly known as Little Shell Gold-Quest International.

"We're a sovereign nation, and we're immune from civil suit," Reed explained following the hearing.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.

News From UAE

   

News From Turkey

 

Ponzi scheme victimizes thousands in Turkey

Friday, May 28, 2010

ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires

The Turkey branch of an international Ponzi scheme that collected millions of dollars from thousands of people has collapsed after police raids against the company.

Quest.net, which defines itself as an “international direct selling brand that utilizes network marketing combined with e-commerce,” victimized nearly 20,000 people in Turkey, according to government officials. The company, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, has been banned in many countries.

The scheme operates like an investment chain. People begin to invest an amount of money to be a part of the chain and then find new people to invest. The invested money is distributed between members while a big chunk of it flows up to the top of the pyramid.

The Quest.net system, which recruits members with the promise of becoming rich, has been banned in many countries including the United States, Iran, Albania, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Afghanistan.

The Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade has launched an extensive study on the issue, and nearly 60 members of the system have been taken into custody.

No official representation

The company does not have an office in Turkey. Nevertheless, it recruits members in home offices located in Istanbul districts, such as Bahçelievler, Kadıköy, Esenler, Zeytinburnu and Güngören.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has filed a criminal complaint, alleging aggravated fraud, against Quest.net executives. The company has victimized nearly 20,000 people, taking millions of liras from them, said Minister Nihat Ergün, speaking to Anatolia news agency on Thursday. “The company has collected a great amount of money, varying between $570 and $2,500 from those people. Nearly more than 20 million liras have been raised,” Ergün said.

Turkey met with the Ponzi scheme in September 1997 with the “Titan” company. Hakan Kenan Şeranoğlu, who was previously a hairdresser in Germany, and his friend Vahit Gülal had established the scheme in Turkey’s western city of İzmir, collecting a total of 8.6 million liras from nearly 30,000 people. The founders and top executives of the system faced lengthy prison terms in 1998.