Felmina Alliance, a Ponzi scheme?

In comes an email asking for advice. Is this a scam?

"Hello,

How are you today? I hope this message finds you in good health and spirit.

My name is Howard Jefferson. Marianne is my sister, we are investing together.

The company we have been investing with for a long time now is called Felmina Alliance. Their business is based on online trading in its various forms.

Being their customer for years now we've never had a delayed or canceled interest payment. This is in our view what makes this company different from the rest.

We've done my own due diligence on them. The company provided all the company incorporation files and other important documents related to their business. In addition to that, I've talked to them over the phone on numerous occasions. Their customer support representatives were always there to help me with anything.

Further, the safety of the investment is guaranteed by a reputable investment bank and a certificate of deposit is issued on all deposits of $500 or above.

Last but not least, there are no hidden or account maintenance fees nor any other catches.

Initially, I got in with a minimum investment of just $20 to test the waters, so to say. Now my
investment is 6 digits.

You can invest and withdraw your interest via direct bank wire transfer.

Please follow the link below to join:

http://www.felmina.com/?ref=howard

If you are interested, simply open an account by filling out a simple form on their website and write back to me so that I could guide you through the rest of the setup process.

I can also send you a copy of my bank account statement to show you that Felmina does pay its customers.

You can leave me your phone number and the best time to call and I will be happy to call you back.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need help with anything.

Yours,

Howard Jefferson"

You can see their web site for yourself here.

This is what they offer:

It sounds good, for an investment of $5,000 they offer you 1.6% interest per day, but what does that actually mean?

It means that after 180 days your initial amount of $5,000 has increased to a staggering total of $87,064. If you kept it with them for a year you would have $1,641,245. That's an annual return of nearly 33,000%.

Can you believe that? Is that possible?

No.

If this was true then banks, pension schemes and the Greek government would be doing it.

This is probably a Ponzi scheme of some sort. No investment scheme in the history of investment schemes has offered that sort of return. That's because this is a straightforward lie. What they want is your $5,000. They plan to keep it.

See here for details of similar schemes we've covered and here for what the BBC had to say on the subject.