Snowden Dunks on 'The Get-Rich-Quick Real Estate Investing Conference
vice.com
vice.com
Rarely have I seen a new idea and only a few rare times did I see math or actual respectable research that made me go. Hmmm. This is an interesting idea worth looking into.
My guess is because math and such is boring.
Basically they were flipping homes. They show you a catalog of houses they are bidding on, and you can join them in on ones that suit your fancy. Then they pool the money, and you would supposedly make whatever percentage they were able to profit on their flip. They would even loan you the money - but of course everybody (except maybe that particular audience) knows where that leads.
If you ever wondered how those house flipping shows work behind the scenes, I guess this is how.
It was pretty clear that they flip these houses back and forth, increasing the price every time. The profit is entirely artificial, and eventually there's no way a sale would go through at the asking prices, and you end up losing.
Basically it was a not-very-well obfuscated Ponzi scheme. We didn't even stick around for the free mp3 player.
You only need a small handful of success stories to make something unlikely sound like a no-brainer.
It's weird how it seems he's making a living by being an invited speaker, with some agent who didn't investigate if the client booking him is reputable or not. Or maybe the agent and Snowden did, and had the stunt all planned. Considering Snowden likes to be well prepared (AFAIK), my assumption is the latter.
> Snowden’s booking agent, American Program Bureau, of Newton, Mass., reported arranging 67 virtual speeches and panel-discussion appearances for him between September 2015 and May 2020.
> Snowden’s biggest speaking payday disclosed is the very first on the list: $50,000 for a speech to Hong Kong-based brokerage firm CLSA in 2015. Other pricey appearances include a turn at Piston ad agency in Kuwait for $35,000, a $32,000 gig for a Portugese tourism bureau and $30,000 each for a “Get Motivated” lineup of motivational speakers and an appearance at the Park City Performing Arts Foundation.
Yeah, we must believe NO BULLSHIT.
Man! the Snowden man is really sharp! I hope I can one day mock somebody as intelligently as him did LOL.
The audacity of a conman to use Snowden's persona is beyond me. He really though he could get away with that.
Well played to Snowden, take his money and burn the con-conference.
Attaboy, Snowden. Public service FTW.
In my, and my parents, extended circle of friends and acquaintances, all of the ponzi scheme invites received have been from Asian migrants.
Are these sort of schemes more popular and accepted in Asian societies?
Due to that growth, some people are "getting rich quickly" legitimately.
Observing this leads other people to believe that they, too, could "get rich quickly", without necessarily understanding the specific set of circumstances that led to the riches of the others.
And of course there are fraudsters waiting to exploit that belief.
Some portion of both the fraudsters and the marks immigrate or share their views with their networks overseas, and you have the situation you observed.
Thats not much data to base such a generalization on. Also, do you read all of your parents and friends emails, and check their spam folders!?