Episode summary · Based on the recording of the conversation
In brief
Kliment Robev and his co-host look at how financial pyramids and modern scams work – from the Ponzi scheme to fake videos, crypto “pump and dump” schemes and unregulated intermediaries cold-calling for clients. In Robev’s view, fraudsters exploit the same psychological weaknesses discussed in earlier episodes, and the red flags are promised returns far above the market’s, a business no one can explain, pressure for a quick decision and the absence of a licence.
Key points
- Both argue that the old schemes now come in new, digital packaging: social networks and influencers with pseudo-authority replace recommendations from friends and family, fake videos featuring well-known figures and AI-written books circulate, yet the essence is the same as with Ponzi – new participants’ money pays the promised returns to earlier ones.
- His co-host draws a line between a pyramid and a risky but real company, using Oklo – a maker of small nuclear reactors that has yet to turn a profit – as an example: it has engineers, patents and a product in development and promises no payouts, whereas behind a pyramid there is nothing but new participants.
- Robev sees the promised return as the first and clearest signal: 10% a quarter is roughly twice what Warren Buffett has achieved over decades, while the US market returns around 10% a year on average with large swings; even Bernie Madoff, who fooled professionals, promised only about 8% a year – but with no fluctuations at all, which is a red flag in itself.
- Robev describes the case of a man who lost money with an offshore intermediary: a call-centre call, an initial “profit” of 30–40%, larger deposits, highly leveraged trades and futures, hourly-charged conversations with a “consultant” and finally pressure to pay in more because, supposedly, the law did not allow clients to be at a loss – a claim he dismisses as untrue.
- To show that no one is immune, his co-host tells how he lost €100 on a three-cup game in Venice, while Robev describes a pyramid built around phone-charging devices in Chinese shopping malls which, when doubts first arose, convinced participants it would last a while longer and got them to pay in more in order to recover what they had put in.
- The safeguards discussed include checking the Financial Supervision Commission’s register, which takes about 30 seconds, and the rule that one red flag is enough; for those already caught out, his co-host advises not waiting and not feeling ashamed, but alerting the authorities and warning anyone they recommended the scheme to, while Robev stresses that this is not a mistake but fraud, and the person is a victim.
Context
Episode 4 of season two of the podcast “Пари и посоки” (Money and Directions). Following the episodes on psychological traps and investment strategy, the conversation looks at the same defence “from a new angle” – the people who professionally exploit these weaknesses – against the backdrop of increasingly widespread online fraud.
Views reflect his position at the date of publication and are not investment advice. Regulatory information
