A large financial pyramid, operating under the guise of the investment company QBF, has been exposed. One of the victims in this high-profile criminal case was Anastasia Volochkova. The ballerina transferred several million rubles to the QBF account at 10% per annum, as a result, part of the amount was not returned to her.
Meanwhile, such profitability does not meet the standards of this type of fraudulent business: usually pyramid schemes promise a percentage several times higher than the market level. What was the catch in this case?
Only officially registered victims in the case are about 500 people. In reality, according to the estimates of the investigation – at least twice as much. The total damage suffered by the depositors is estimated at 5-7 billion rubles. The main focus of QBF was on VIP clients, on VIPs who had before. These people just do not intend to publicize their losses and refuse the status of the victim. They absolutely do not need extra noise around their names.
As for Volochkova, she told the operatives how it all happened. According to the prima, she invested 3 million rubles in the company last year, and to date, she has not returned 1.7 million to her. ) in the framework of a criminal case of particularly large fraud.
In this story, it is not the fact of fraud itself that causes bewilderment – financial pyramids are now, alas, not uncommon – the profitability to which Volochkova agreed. 10% per annum is not at all the crazy interest that classic financial pyramids promise to potential clients, which on a blue eye promise gullible citizens to double – triple their funds. Rather, they are close to the terms of interest on bank deposits: today, it is 7-9% per annum. It turns out that QBF decided to play some particularly tricky game, leveling the main marker, the main distinguishing feature of such schemes – the supposedly huge income from the deposit.
“Financial pyramids have learned to deftly mimic and pass themselves off as respectable organizations,” says Mikhail Belyaev, PhD in Economics, financial analyst. – Indeed, in the old days, the main hook on which they hooked people was super-high percentages. It seems that at some point the mechanism has lost its effectiveness, causing more and more suspicion. The organizers of the pyramids took this into account. “
But they are not able to completely rebuild, get rid of their generic characteristics. And, before entering into an agreement with financial companies, before parting with your money, you need to try to find out a few things. For example, when was the company’s website last updated (if this does not happen for a long time, it’s already a mess), what does it do, what is its financial position, does it have its own fixed assets, is it licensed by the Bank of Russia. And it is even easier, Belyaev notes, to go to the official website of the Central Bank, which contains a register of licensed structures – banks, MFOs, brokerage companies, which the state has allowed to take money from the population and work with them.
“The situation with QBF is clearly out of the ordinary,” says financial analyst Sergei Drozdov. – The first time I heard about this structure was probably in 2012: in the market it has established itself as an absolutely normal investment company, was engaged in ordinary brokerage services, and invested in real estate. And, in my opinion, initially this business was not built on a pyramid scheme.
Apparently, two or three years ago, the QBF leadership decided for some reason to take a crooked path. The company has accumulated a lot of regular wealthy clients, whom it is obviously easier and more profitable to throw for money than to engage in rough brokerage work, to invent some kind of products. This was the difficulty for the victims: they unconditionally trusted QBF and could not predict such a turn of events. “
In general, Drozdov sums up, prohibitively high profitability (much higher than rates on bank deposits) has been and remains a key feature of financial pyramids. And we are talking about 10-15% per month, not a year. And any person should ask the question: what, in fact, will the company earn that kind of money for itself and its customers? One of two things: either financial geniuses are working there, or it is a classic pyramid. The first option is, of course, extremely unlikely.
On the other hand, it is not the first day or the first year that they have been fighting financial fraudsters. And all the tips and tricks on how not to get them online begin with a point about super-high percentages, which should alert customers. Here are the founders of the pyramids and are adapting not to shine on this factor. This means that citizens who give their money for growth to certain structures will have to be doubly and triple vigilant.
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