What are the main signs to detect a Ponzi scheme?

Ponzi schemes are a type of fraud that promises significant financial returns in exchange for an initial investment and the recruitment of additional customers or "investors. Sometimes the term "investors' club" is used. The organizers are usually charismatic people who present you with a scheme where in exchange for your investment and the recruitment of other "investors" you can multiply your money without much effort.

In reality, the "yield" or profit comes from the money of the people who join the system, which is used to pay those who entered the scheme before. The main characteristics of a Ponzi scheme are the following:

1. As a general rule within the investment world, the safer an investment is, the less profit return it will generate. Any investment that promises a high return implies a risk. A proposal that projects the possibility of a high return in a safe and guaranteed manner is at least suspect.

2. Consistent returns: No market remains linear. Investments can go up and down according to different variables. Therefore, if an investment promises profits all the time, no matter what the market is doing, you should pay attention, as this may be an important indication that it is a Ponzi scheme or some kind of scam.

3. There is no way to receive payments directly: Ponzi scams usually present thousands of problems to withdraw the money you are "earning", and that is why many times they insist that you "reinvest" it in their investment programs or in "allied investment programs". Any legitimate earnings should be available to you at any time you request them.

4. There is no clarity about what is done with the invested money: if we do not know where the money or the supposed "investments" come from, then we must be careful. We cannot get carried away by supposedly innovative ideas that do not show us the reality and that only seek to trick us with pompous names and complicated investment concepts.