Just Numbers on a Screen
by Owen Platt
Category: True Crime

Mr. and Mrs. Marsden who created Pips Inc., the People in Profit System, were not the first to operate a Ponzi scheme by courtesy of the Internet - and they are most certainly not going to be the last. But for sheer boldfaced audacity they may well be remembered. Theirs was as elaborate a fraud as is seldom seen in the shady world of scamsters. Upfront and personal would be a way to describe their public posturing. Creating an elaborate web of seemingly legitimate companies, they lied so convincingly that thousands worldwide were convinced and poured their money into something that was promising to make them unbelievably wealthy. Rarely has the phrase "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" had a greater resonance, for the Marsdens were offering a remarkable 2% per trading day interest on the money. And they were believed.