Asian Behaving Badly... Ponzi scheme edition! At this point, thanks to Bernie Madoff, everyone in America is aware of what a Ponzi scheme is. Some folks found out the hard way. This is a couple of weeks old, but it's a story out of Minnesota about Kalin Dao, one smooth-talking Ponzi schemer who bilked hopeful investors out of $10 million: Alleged architect of Ponzi scheme cast a 'spell'.
Ponzi schemes promise investors high returns, and in the early stages the architects of those schemes make good on that promise through "lulling" payments to initial investors, using fresh money from new ones. Dao was apparently extremely good at persuading strangers to part with hard-earned savings.
By the end, according to investigators, Dao's scheme had lured more than 500 clients, ranging in investments from $10,000 all the way to more than $100,000. I'm no financial whiz, but a word of wisdom: if it sounds like easy money, and looks too good to be true... get the hell out of there -- your money is halfway to gone.
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