‘Silence protects the wrong people – Why victims of pyramid schemes should speak up’

Many people affected by MLM and pyramid schemes are familiar with the same pattern: First, there is great disappointment when the supposedly safe investment turns out to be a pipe dream. There is complaining, and the anger over lost money is palpable. But as soon as it comes to demanding accountability or presenting evidence, many back down.

They know exactly who introduced them to the business and promoted it. They know who pressured them to make payments, lured them with false promises or pressured them with urgency and ‘exclusive opportunities’. Yet many refuse to testify. The reason: they got on well at one point, they were friends. Ironically, it is this loyalty that now protects the wrong people and makes it difficult to get to the bottom of the matter.

Psychological explanation: why marketers (users/victims) remain silent

There are understandable reasons for this reluctance:

• Shame: no one wants to be publicly labelled as ‘gullible’. Many feel complicit because they themselves transferred money or even persuaded others to do so.
• Loyalty conflict: Intermediaries often come from among friends or acquaintances. Testifying against them means destroying a relationship for good.
• Repression: Dealing with contracts, claims and deception forces people to admit their own mistakes. Silence protects them from pain in the short term, but prevents any redress in the long term.
• Remaining hope: Some cling to the illusion that ‘something will come along eventually’ and see criticism as nothing more than a threat to destroy their last chance.

Real-life example: Invitation to the living room

Descriptions by victims show what manipulative methods can look like: in a private atmosphere, such as invitations to the living room or small exclusive gatherings, selected participants were presented with special ‘packages’. These supposedly contained unique opportunities: tokens, shares, memberships or club benefits that promised enormous profits with small investments. Presentations with slides or videos promised increases in value every second, monthly distributions in the three-digit range per share or even passive income of several thousand euros.

The reality was often very different: high deposits, often in the hundreds of thousands, but no tokens, no shares, no distributions. Instead, new offers, additional payment requests and finally a break in contact followed. For those affected, this meant considerable financial losses.

Consequences of silence

We see it every day: the silence of the victims slows down the investigation and weakens their position vis-à-vis the perpetrators. Yet it is precisely their cooperation that contributes significantly to the investigation. Many top leaders now claim to have lost money themselves and see themselves as victims – together with those whom they themselves previously motivated and recruited to make payments. The files show that various top leaders received indecently high commissions.

We expressly support the insolvency administrators’ efforts to shed light on the matter and welcome the transfer of insolvency files to the public prosecutor’s office. This is the only way to fully investigate matters that are relevant under criminal law. Many former top leaders have now gone into hiding, moved away or are hardly reachable.

This makes it all the more important that those affected support us with information, which can also be provided anonymously. ( Email: [email protected] )

Concrete information such as the following is particularly valuable:

• Names, former and current addresses, and contact details of those responsible,
• Contract documents, presentations or advertising material,
• Saved emails, chat or voice messages (these will be redacted),
• details of events, meetings or witnesses who can confirm statements.

Any of this information can help to clearly identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

For your information: [email protected]

Conclusion and appeal

Those who remain silent are not protecting themselves, but those responsible. Those who withhold information not only prevent their own chance of recovery, but also indirectly support the system that has harmed them. Victims of pyramid schemes should understand that clarification can only be achieved together. Every email, every presentation, every voice message is a piece of the puzzle. Only when these are brought together does a picture emerge that the justice system and the public can no longer ignore.