I remembered my neighbor left his phone number so I gave him a quick call about an hour before the meeting to let him know I wouldn’t be able to make it. After confirming that he wasn’t the one giving the presentation tonight I told him that it was all a multi-level marketing scam and was wondering if he was aware of that. He started to get a little defensive and said his friends we’re all involved (where have I heard that?) and it sounded pretty good. I don’t think he knew much about the internet so I told him I just wanted to give him a heads up and that there were a lot of stories online about people getting scammed with madebig. Hell, google for madebig and scam.com is the second link. Here’s a short excerpt and also my final realization that going down there would be a huge waste of time:

Me: Just do a little research on them before you give them your money. The entire scam is documented online.
Him: Ok, thanks. I’ll ask them about that at the meeting.
Me: You’ll ask them if they are a scam?
Him: Yeah.

And with that I wished him good-luck and got off the phone. What a waste.

Moral of the story: People don’t give money away. Use your head. Also, I should care less about what other people do.

(For the record, turns out pyramid schemes are actually illegal in Oregon under ORS 646.609.)

I probed for some details but apparently he’s only been a member of this money-laden organization for a week so he didn’t know much. He did drop some key words like Internet, Ebay, and social networking. With an endorsement like that, how could I resist? A guy with no knowledge of a company claiming it can make big money and asking others to join? Sounds like a pyramid scheme to me.

So, I had a look at this flyer, and it’s actually for madebig.com. Hoping to get smacked in the face with some web 2.0 goodness I checked it out and was disappointed to see everything is hidden behind a login. A mysterious club I have to join with the promise of money? I can’t sign up fast enough! Also, the flyer says I can join their “Fast Start Bonus” plan.

Some brief googling looks like it will reveal the details of the scam, but I kind of want to be surprised. Since I’ve never made a poll before, and I’m not planning on making another one in the future, I’m going old school and just providing four options. If you care enough, vote in the comments – and if you want to go, let me know.

1. Give into the siren call. Go to the meeting. Sign up. Get rich.
2. Go to the meeting. Take a bunch of pictures of whoever is presenting it and at the end raise my hand and ask how it’s not a scam.
3. Get to the meeting early, change their signs to point to a different meeting room and host my own scam when everyone shows up.
4. Don’t go to the meeting. They’re actually planning on mugging you.

(Sorry for the <24 hour notice )