Ginko Bond ???

Don't forget they get money from every transaction in the WSE too. They have all the bases covered...

I think there is a simple reason all of the off-world investments were not Liquid and not disclosed.

Becuase they were Nick's Stuff. He spent the money on stuff that will benefit him IRL.

Maybe he hoped someday they'd be profitable enough to help pay people back, but I think that was just wishful thinking.

And I do think he saw this MOUNTAIN of debt , and when the bank run started these bonds as a way to reduce it. Since they are only worth a fraction of face value ..

He coudlnt get enough people to buy 100L bonds for 100L account balance when it was optional...

But if he forced them to take 1L bonds for 1L of account balance...

He does have a point. How much right to people have to complain when they put their money into an unregulated, uninsured, extremely high risk investment scheme, and end up losing it all? It seems to me that any rational person would see that as the most likely outcome. It's a bit like coating yourself in honey, walking into a bear's den, and then being outraged at the bear when it mauls you.

Maybe they don't have the right to complain about a high risk investment.

But they do have a right to complain about being suckered into an illegal ponzi scheme masquerading as a "bank" where you can store your extra lindens to make a little interest.

They probably also have the right to demand investigation of said illegal scheme, and possible legal recourse.

Yeah, it's kinda like that, except that in this case the bear has dressed himself up in a banker's suit and painted a convincing, rotating, BANK AT GINKO'S sign over his den. I dunno, but if I walk into my local bank branch and the guy with the nice haircut suddenly slips out of his bodysuit to reveal a bear, coming at me red in tooth and claw, I'm gonna complain, even if the fine print says "not responsible for bear attacks."

Plus, in RL, I get to shoot the bear.

But seriously, I completely agree with what I take to be the thrust of your post: an "unregulated bank" is an oxymoron. If the SL economy will ever get serious, this kinda crap just has to stop. Otherwise that "economy" is just an expensive game of who can out-scam whom.

Why don't we invite the staff of Ginko to a nice friendly meeting in SL...

...and also invite every griefer on the grid?

We could make millions selling tickets and concessions.

(ok, maybe not the concessions since AVies don't eat)

Its not fair to expose the griefers to that sort of abuse.

if u wanna hurt Ginko that bad i suggest sending all griefers to ginko owned rentals lands and make the residence leave giving Ginko land thats costing them to keep with no customers this in turn will force Ginko to sell said land and hurt them even more..

but thats just a dream cos nobody would eh?

This thread now has less value than the bonds.

"This thread now has less value than the bonds."

Tell me something new LOL

Thats not true this thread is only almost useless...

As opposed to the bonds ..

You know, I'm rather apalled that someone would suggest the harassment of innocent people as a way to get revenge on a third party.

First off, it was an obvious joke.

Secondly, they are hardly "innocent"

Just to clarify, I think the reference was to residents on Ginko-owned rental property, who would indeed be innocent.

Apropos no particular post: I don't think "revenge" is at all appropriate. While I'm gravitating ever further toward a quite sinister interpretation of the motives and actions of the Ginko officers, it's not really their fault that the SL ToS leads some to believe that a clever scam is just playing the game by the rules. What's important at this juncture is to make sure the next batch of Ginko investors are fully aware that they're just gambling on getting their money out before the new Ginko pyramid collapses.

"You know, I'm rather apalled that someone would suggest the harassment of innocent people as a way to get revenge on a third party."

1st off i was being sarcastic as an involentary bond holder when all i wanted was my deposit i was saving for my wedding in SL i didnt care about the interest and i only put it in Ginko cos friends recommended it as a good place to keep ur money how rong was them so i was foolish to listen to friends and lost 52378L$ and all i got is useless bog paper thats not gonna pay for my SL wedding also my brother who has been saving money ever since he first started SL did the same through other people advice and he was saving to buy a sim he lost 400k he has roughly 64k worth of useless bonds so yes i do have a right to be as sarcastic as i want to be and everyone pointing there holier than thou fingers saying were guilty of supporting a bloody ponzi scheme should be ashamed of themselves cos this is gonna cost SL of talented builders who like me listened to wrong advice old Saying DONT THROW STONES IN GLASS HOUSES..
also those who been shouting the loudest dont think of the big picture some truth in what i say if its true its ponzi IF IF .. always IF then those renting the property of Ginko are just as guilty cos they paying Funds into it knowingly or not so as i watch and read they are more to this than meets the eye so stop attacking innocence as the so called cowboy bankers have more fingers in more pies and a paper trail to match..will i ever get my deposit back NO was i lied to by Nick in IMs telling me it be all right HELL YES is he going to get away with this of course he bloody is...will my brother want revenge you bet oh sorry no gambling allowed but he wont give a fig about his SL account he will seek revenge and payback is a bitch.. am i finished with this mess YES and will the flamers let those who have suffered in this alone NO dont BANK on IT..

Ginko was indeed fairly popular with the "earn free lindens without camping" crowd, even as late as end of this year's June ...

http://lindens.wordpress.com/2007/06/26/get-and-earn-more-free-lindens-with-ginko-financial/

The crappy thing is now they really are fictional funds.
Friend spent real money to get lindens put in 95k in Ginko now as bonds they are worth 15k if she cashes out.
She doesn't seem upset. I don't get it. I would be really mad if I lost the equivelent of 350 usd. Just another reason to never spend real money again except for tier in SL for me personally.

I wonder how many people are now falling for the whole bonds trick now? Some people just never learn... Lick your wounds and move on.

Are you people aware that the same guy who scammed you out of your money the first time owns 35% shares in WSE where your getting these bonds? HHhhhmmmm......

Why don't you just turn over your wallet to him and get it over with.

"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me"

Voodoo its not that they ginko bank depositers choose to have their funds switched to bonds it was done without their consent. Majority couldn't withdrawal their funds.

wow Misfit that is really bad you lost so much money .

I wonder about people who recomended Ginko - since im sure thats how it got a lot of its customers. Word of mouth is a big mehtod of advertizing in SL.

Is probably a lot of people who trusted the recomendation of SL freinds - and had No real clue how much risk was involved.

That's exactly how I got sucked in, over a year ago: a friend had been doing business there for a long time and pointed out that it would be prudent to salt away some of the weekly stipend to save for a rainy day. (Yeah, I was a struggling n00b back then, with but a lowly First Land 512 to my name.) Only by dumb luck, just a couple weeks before the crash, I happened to withdraw nearly my total balance to buy (then expensive) land.

Somehow I'm happier to watch the value of that land plummet than I would have been to lose those L$s into Nic P's megalomania trip.

Excuse me?

He said that you lied to him when he instant messaged you about him not being able to withdraw his money from your ponzi scheme.

You said everything was going to be alright, which was a blatant lie.

So he posted here on these forums stating the fact that you lied to him.

Seems pretty simple to me.

Finally! good to see you participating and answering some of these people's concerns Nicholas Portocarrero!

I wish I owned a bank now in SL.

Santa, can I have a Ponzi for Christmas?