Thousands riot in Colombia over pyramid scheme losses

[Doctor Cynic]

Source: Reuters

Thousands of Colombians rioted around the country Wednesday, demanding their money back after being defrauded in a series of pyramid schemes and then mocked in some cases by those who took their cash.

In some of the nine cities where the protests erupted, police used batons and tear gas to subdue angry mobs.

In recent months, a number of phony loan companies have vanished along with millions of dollars in deposits after promising interest rates of up to 150 per cent. Regular savings accounts are unpopular in Colombia due to high banking fees.

"Dear investors, thanks for trusting us and depositing your money," read a note posted on the door of a company in the southwestern province of Cauca after its owners disappeared.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/12/colombia-riots.html

[drm604]

1. Pyramid scheme.

Sounds like our stock markets.

[conspirator]

11. The whole monetary system is a pyramid scheme. You get paid money created from thin air

to create real wealth for the rich. They only pay you enough to keep you coming back for more. The monopoly currency they print does not translate in real wealth.
And the real wealth you create is used against you. To enslave you more.
Let's face it. We are lifestock.

[DainBramaged]

2. Wow, these folks were scammed and then rioted, who is going to give them

their money back, the tooth fairy? And we get called uncivilized by Europeans.:eyes:

[MidwestTransplant]

3. Perhaps a Fed Bailout is in order.

[TygrBright]

4. Oh, wow! We have those here, too! We call it "Free Market Capitalism." n/t

[Chovexani]

5. Looks like the market forces down there

Are looking to kick some ass.

[freedomnorth]

6. Thank you unrestrained capitalism! n/t.

[struggle4progress]

7. UPDATE 1-Colombians riot over money lost in pyramid schemes (link only)

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1232000520081113

[struggle4progress]

8. Colombians riot over pyramid scam (BBC)

... In Popayan in the south-western department of Cauca, 2,000 depositors stormed an investment firm's offices.

In Pereira, in Risaralda, police caught two men hurrying out the back door of a scheme's office with suitcases of cash ...

In the city of Pasto, in the department of Narino, local television showed depositors looting local businesses ...

In Santander de Quilichao, the owners of one pyramid scheme disappeared, leaving a note stuck to the doors taunting the investors for having been duped ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7726069.stm
video @ link

[aquart]

9. Any Monavie in that bunch?

[Judi Lynn]

10. This AFP article says the scammers are drug traffickers....

Nov 13, 2008
Thousands protest in Columbia
Pyramid scheme cheats thousands of their savings



Some 2,000 people gathered outside the offices
of the company that had promised a 200 per cent
profit on investments made only a few months
ago, as rumours spread that its staff were fleeing
the premises with suitcases full of money.
-- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


POPAYAN (Colombia) - THOUSANDS of irate Colombians in ten cities took to the streets and clashed with police on Wednesday after realising they were duped out of their savings in pyramid schemes police believe were set up by drug traffickers.
Interior Minister Fabio Valencia said untold thousands of people were victims of 'massive fraud' over the past few months, despite warnings by the government.

'The truth is that the government has been slow and inefficient in dealing' with the criminals, but promised prompt intervention by the justice department and greater control of financial businesses in future.

Protesters took to the streets when they found the offices of the fake businesses promoting the savings schemes shuttered, and their savings gone for good.

The biggest street protests were in southwestern Popayan, where many of its 200,000 inhabitants fell victim to DRFE company, a ficticious firm promoting the savings scheme that disappeared overnight along with all its clients' money.

More:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_301788.html

[acmavm]

12. Maybe Uribe could use bush**s good buddy Paulson to straighten this

out.

I'm sure that he could 'help' these victims by devising a way to making it all better if they just give the thieves more money.

[zehnkatzen]

13. This reminds me of the Albanian crisis of 1996-97 ...

Albania's economy was nearly destroyed at its government was brought down by chaos resulting from the collapse of several similar ponzi-style pyramid schemes

[fasttense]

14. Now that is the essence of Milton and Tom Friedman's "free" market

flat earth theories. Let the uber wealthy and unscrupulous steal from the middle class and poor. Make it look good with a fancy dancy pyramid scheme then run and hide when all hell breaks lose.

[pattmarty]

15. Damn, that sure sounds like what happened here.

:sarcasm:

[raccoon]

16. They must not have cable TV in Colombia. :sarcasm: nt

[peacetalksforall]

17. The only difference between us and them - their thieves are small fry? and ours are

visible and associated - with the White House and Wall Street, bankers, investment companies, and off shore industries.

[KurtNYC]

18. Yes, they are amateurs next to Paulson and Bush

[msongs]

19. greedy people - same result every time nt

[KillCapitalism]

20. How do you like your Bush style capitalism now suckers? n/t

[Kali]

21. Amway?

[Judi Lynn]

22. 1 dead in rioting over Colombia pyramid scam

1 dead in rioting over Colombia pyramid scam
Mostly poor investors fleeced of millions in scheme offering big returns

updated 6:16 p.m. CT, Thurs., Nov. 13, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia - At least one man was killed in rioting over the collapse of a pyramid scheme that offered 70 percent returns and fleeced its mostly poor investors out of millions of dollars, Colombian authorities said Thursday.

The victim was shot dead Wednesday evening in a southern cocaine-producing region where angry investors were demanding their money back from a company called "Dinero Rapido Facil Efectivo," or DRFE.

The name means "Fast Money, Easy Cash" in English.

~snip~
Dead man had tried to calm investors
The man killed Wednesday night, Byron Santander, was a public official who was trying to calm upset investors in Buesaco when he was shot by an unknown assailant, Mayor Jose Maria Moncayo told the AP in a telephone interview.

"We don't know who did this or why," Moncayo said, adding that nearly every family in Buesaco, population 22,400, had money in DRFE.

More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27705846/

[Judi Lynn]

23. Colombia $200 Million Pyramid Scheme Leaves Three Dead So Far

November 14,2008
Colombia $200 Million Pyramid Scheme Leaves Three Dead So Far


BOGOTA -- The number killed in violence linked to the collapse of financial pyramid schemes has risen to three with the death of another man at the hands of an angry mob, authorities said Friday.

The man was killed in the southwestern town of Rosas, in Cauca province, because he was holding at his home a quantity of cash his policeman son-in-law had seized from the local branch of Proyecciones DRFE, one of several phony firms that lured investors with promises to pay interest rates as high as 300 percent.

Dozens of enraged depositors arrived at the home of Heriberto Taticuan and demanded he hand over the money.

Rosas Mayor Roberto Jose Diaz Lopez told reporters that the man initially denied that he had the cash and later was killed when he refused to hand it over.

More:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=320475&CategoryId=12393

[sarcasmo]

24. Wall Street?