PixMeUp.Com: Please Don't Invest - It's A Pyramid Scheme
Following on from the success of MillionDollarHomepage.com a number of clones have no surprisingly sprung up. I have to admit that when I saw the story even I did a quick search to see if millionpoundhomepage.co.uk, milliondollareuro.com etc was available.I’ve just come across a new clone, PixMeUp.com and I’m posting about here to try and dissuade anyone who reads this article from getting sucked into investing in what is basically a Pyramid Scheme. Lots of people are going to get hurt and I want to do what I can to stop that happening.
I received an email yesterday inviting me to buy advertising on pixmeup.com, and I popped over for a quick look. I was horrified to see that it was nothing but a glorified pyramid scheme. Here’s how it works:
- ‘Advertisers’ buy pixels for $0.25 per pixel. These pixels get placed in a grid. If you buy multiple pixels you get multiple grids.
- When other people buy pixels they get placed in a grid below you. Once a certain amount of levels below your pixels are filled then you get commission cheques. If a whole grid is filled then a payout of $9.5K is ‘possible’
So, basically the whole system is funded by more and more people buying pixels, filling up the lower level pixels, and the money filtering up the ‘pyramid’, with the site owner skimming some cash off.
It even has a classic pyramid scheme feature in that if the user recruits the people who fill up the pixels below theirs, then they get a 20% bonus. If those people then recruit people themselves, the top guy gets another 5% bonus. Pyramid schemes adopt these tactics as no-one is better at recruiting new people than their friends.
Like every pyramid scheme, the people at the top do quite well out of it initially, but eventually the whole system will collapse like all other schemes as pyramid schemes require an ever increasing amount of new recruits to keep them going by pumping in more cash. Yes, the people at the top will do ok out of the site, but there will be loads of people at the bottom who won’t get their $25 back.
You may think that potentially losing $25 to get $9.5K back is worth the risk. The problem is, a lot of people will think ‘Why not buy 10 pixels?’. Greed will encourage some people to buy even more pixels - potentially thousands of dollars worth of pixels.
I have personally seen the disastrous effects of pyramid schemes. In 2004 a lot of my family and friends got involved in a scheme, some investing thousands of pounds despite my efforts to talk sense into them. Greed took over and they paid big time - some are still paying now because they leveraged up to raise more cash to invest.
Please please please don’t invest in these schemes. Unfortunately, it looks like it is too late for hundreds of other people as PixMeUp is now filling up it’s fourth page of pixels…..
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Pingback by Win A $100 Wiki Page From MillionDollarWiki | Connected Internet on 2 September 2007:
[...] been a big critic of the numerous pixel advertising schemes that emerged following the success of the original MillionDollarHomepage. Many of them seemed [...]
Comment by john walker on 5 August 2007:
I got burned by pixmeup.com, but what’ wors, is that paypal was part and parcel to it. No matter what evidence was shown, paypal was the final holder of my funds, which I never got back. God’s truth.
Comment by Troy B. on 25 May 2007:
Let’s Flash Forward to May 25th 2007.
Pixmeup.com is no where to be seen. This was certainly a big Pyramid scam. I was one of the people who advertised a single 100×100 pixel block costing a whopping $25 dollars. The people who manage the pixmeup site are cowards and they suck.
So, lets see two years many thousands of dollars. now pixmeup is no more. For that king of money you can get way more at http://pixels.getpaid420.biz
At lease you know that this site looks way cooler than the former pixmeup site shit. So hit us up and post some pixels.
Thanks,
Best Regards,
Troy B.
Comment by CW on 1 June 2006:
I wish I would have read this warning about PixMeUp sooner!!!!! I was promised money in one week . Months have passed and I have received NOTHING!! I lost $500.00 dollars in the scam!!!!
Comment by Anonymous on 20 March 2006:
it is now come to light that after several delays after delays, that there may be evidence that this matrix was stacked with some of russ medlins friends. mainly a guy by the name of tom moore. He was helping do a few calls during pre-launch and now appears that he was bumped up in the matrix for his efforts. Russ said time and time again, that EVERYBODY is time/dated from when they join and how they will be placed in the matrix. There is now evidence coming out that this was indeed not true. if tom morre got special treatment then how many other friends of russ's also got bumped up in this matrix???
Not only is this not right, but this now becomes FRAUD,,,
If you would like to read the evidence that so far has been found to back this up, there is a very large thread over at moneymakergroup.com inside the referral/mlm section.
We may never know the extent on how much of this went on, but it only takes 1 person to turn this whole thing into Fraud.