My face is all over the news right now. Here’s why I’m okay with that.
Eight years ago I flew to Nanning, sat through five days of the world’s most elaborate sales pitch, and walked away from what turned out to be a pyramid scheme. I wrote about it once and filed a police report but nobody really followed up.
Then 52 Singaporeans got detained in China over a suspected pyramid scheme, my old article resurfaced, and suddenly my face was in the news.
The question I’ve gotten the most since: how the hell did you not realize it was a scam?
Fair question. So instead of answering it piecemeal in comments, I sat down and answered everything. What actually happened in Nanning. Who I met (a Singaporean of the Year finalist, a former MP). Why I still won’t name them. When it clicked that something was off, and why I put money in anyway even after it did.
I could’ve stayed quiet about all this. A lot of people in my position do, because nobody wants to be known as the guy who almost fell for it. But I don’t think that’s the right instinct. The people running these schemes get to operate in public. I don’t see why the people who got pitched to should have to hide.
Full video’s below
