The Curse of Cassandra

Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam of Troy. She was born with the gift of prophecy. But her gift came with the caveat that no one would ever believe her predictions.

So here we have a little girl who really can see the future. Who really knows what is going to happen. But no one will listen.

She sees the destruction of Troy. She warns the Trojans about the Horse. She sees the death of Agamemnon. But no one believes her.

It is the same today when one tries to warn others about Ponzi schemes and other cons.

The reason why Ponzi schemes are always successful and have been so for nearly 100 years is based on the stupidity of those who invest.

Warning people who are about to put their life savings in what is obviously a rip off results with anger, rebuke, and insult.

Telling people,

"I invested in Cash Plus and lost my money. Olint is the same thing!"

does not result in someone putting their money back in their pocket but attacking you. You are trying to prevent their gaining wealth. And if you lost, well, you must have done something wrong.

Cyberspace has its own forms of Ponzis and other schemes. It isn't just the Nigerian email scammer or the Jamaican Lottery. There are many 'quiet' scams.

A number of so-called writing sites have ripped off those who were duped into writing for them.

Factoidz, (now defunct) had fed a number of Shills who wandered from writing site to forum to message board lauding the greatness of Factoidz. Exclaiming over how much money one could make.
Easy.

Joining hands with Shills, many writers left the site they were on and raced to Factoidz. They become Shills after their first big payout. They ran from writing site to forum to message board proclaiming the greatness of the site.

Those who had been ripped off wrote about it. The Shills and their followers attacked detractors with; "You must have Broken The Rules!"

Then. for no reason the Shills are dropped from Staff Writer to Writer, then Member, and all of their work is taken by the one and only employee of Factoidz; the owner, Mike Quac.

And the site closes.

BUBBLEWS

Before the bad taste of Factoidz had faded from the mouth, up came Bubblews. Some people started out with a lot of caution. They posted, they commented, and when they reached the redemption of $25 they put in, and stopped posting.

When they received that first payout, some forgot the lessons learned, and went happily off to write their hearts out and never got another payout.

Many began publishing articles about the Bubblews scam all over the 'Net, and just as happened with Factoidz, the Shills rose up in one ugly mass to bleat about, "Breaking the Rules!" until they were also unpaid.

Bubblews jacked up its redemption to $50.

Those who had been paid the first time, who sat on their hands and only liked or commented were able to post a few items and were paid again.

That is because when the threshold reached $50 the algorithm was reset.

Those who posted and were paid when it was $25 and waited, put in for that $50 and were paid as if it were their first time.

Those who weren't paid, who complained were barred from the site.

Then, Bubblews went down.

Those who had shilled for Bubblews stand shamefaced, a few having the courage to admit they should have listened when warned.

Alas.

Such is the Curse of Cassandra