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The random article generator was oddly focused on obscure sports figures, moths, train stations in small towns in Great Britain, and national anthems from former Soviet satellite states. Took a few tries to get anything interesting.

A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment, services or ideals, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme or training them to take part, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public. Pyramid schemes are a form of fraud.

Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries including Albania, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

These types of schemes have existed for at least a century, some with variations to hide their true nature, and many people believe that multilevel marketing is also a pyramid scheme.

A successful pyramid scheme combines a fake yet seemingly credible business with a simple-to-understand yet sophisticated-sounding money-making formula which is used for profit. The essential idea is that a "con artist" Mr. X, makes only one payment. To start earning, Mr. X has to recruit others like him who will also make one payment each. Mr. X gets paid out of receipts from those new recruits. They then go on to recruit others. As each new recruit makes a payment, Mr. X gets a cut. He is thus promised exponential benefits as the "business" expands.

Such "businesses" seldom involve sales of real products or services to which a monetary value might be easily attached. However, sometimes the "payment" itself may be a non-cash valuable. To enhance credibility, most such scams are well equipped with fake referrals, testimonials, and information. The flaw is that there is no end benefit. The money simply travels up the chain. Only the originator (sometimes called the "pharaoh") and a very few at the top levels of the pyramid make significant amounts of money. The amounts dwindle steeply down the pyramid slopes. Individuals at the bottom of the pyramid (those who subscribed to the plan, but were not able to recruit any followers themselves) end up with a deficit.

Source: Wikipedia

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