Forsage: Another Illegal Pyramid Powered By Ethereum Smart Contract

(post first published May 31st 2020)
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Brace yourself, this is going to be an angry review. In fact it might end up being a long rant. And for good reason too.

I love Ethereum. That is why the latest trend of scammers exploiting the awesome Ethereum smart contracts for their pyramid schemes is maddening. Million.money, smartway.run, billionmoney.live (see review), xoxo.run are just a few in a long line of scam platforms doing this.

Pyramid schemes are illegal and will always crash no matter how long it takes. An illegal pyramid scheme that uses Ethereum smart contract is still an illegal pyramid scheme. Smart contract only facilitates the process.

Joining them on the seat of shame is the popular Forsage.io platform. Like other similar blockchain-powered pyramid scams, Forsage has weaponized smart contract tech to lure people into a scam.

This review will breakdown all of these, explaining how Forsage.io works — yes, all that fun stuff.

But first let’s get a few issues out of the way.

Forsage claims to be the world first 100% Decentralized blah…blah…blah. Believe it or not that was my first insight into the fact that this platform is up to no good. For folks like me and you (fans of this blog) who have become so trained at spotting scam platforms that even the littlest of details jump out at us. Whether ponzi or pyramid or fake trading platforms, the playbook is the same. They all make outlandish, over the top claims. Reading ‘First 100% decentralized’ on the homepage immediately jumped out as a red flag in the same way fake trading platforms’ ‘Get 100% of your investment in 2 days’ type promises make me nauseous.

Next, Forsage.io like all the other smart contract scams (that’s what I’m calling them now), claims it has no founder and wears that factoid like a badge of honour. Stay woke y’all. That’s them screaming at you right off the bat saying ‘We are scammers’. Or since when does having no admin mean a platform is legit? It used to mean the opposite. Apart from the fact that we know the Forsage.io domain name was registered sometimes in February 2020, other information about the domain is hidden. I’ve become a broken record telling all who would listen — Never join an investment platform (or even anything) with a faceless founder. Because who do you hold responsible when shit hits the fan? And while we are still on the matter who is naive enough to believe Forsage has no admin or founder? Certainly someone created the website, the telegram group and uploaded the smart contracts. At least from a bit of research, it’s obvious these founders are from Russia.

I don’t mean this as a diss to anyone, but let’s be honest for a second. Schemes like Forsage are targeted to exploit novices and newbies in the Cryptocurrency world who know next to nothing. If cryptocurrency isn’t your thing, that’s okay. But if you’re gonna invest in a platform that runs on cryptocurrency, a little research on the topic wouldn’t hurt. It’s why I applaud you for at least checking out this article. It’s easy for any one with rudimentary knowledge of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency to see right through Forsage’s gimmick. For example anonymity is being portrayed as the coolest thing especially since you can get away with using smart contracts.

Baloney.

They conveniently forgot to tell you one thing. That the founder of Ethereum smart contract is well known — Vitalik Buterin. Even he knows that anonymity sure has its place but not when you’re at the helm of a company that will have potentially hundreds of thousands to millions of users. Only scammers would think different.

Forsage also hides its true nature by using all kinds of flowery confusing language on their homepage to game newbies — immutability, instant peer to peer payments, non-hierarchically organized, transactional surety… Lol all these because it uses smart contract tech? Listen newbies-Smart contract doesn’t guarantee your 100% protection. Heck, some even wrongly assume a smart contract is a form of legally binding document/contract. Naah. A Smart contracts is nothing more than a set of programmed code that is designed to execute a particular way by its creator and cannot be changed. See, its nothing more than a ‘garbage in garbage out’ computer program. What if the creator has created it in such a way to cheat you? In Forsage the top spots are most likely reserved for the founder(s).

On to the Elephant in the room, how does Forsage operare?

Took me long enough to get to this right? Better late than ever. I got caught up in righteous anger.

Now, let’s get to it.

How Forsage works

The whole scheme puts a little spin on the whole pyramid scheme structure. But it’s the same garbage upline downline matrix nonsense.

To enter the system you pay 0.5 ETH for the first round.

Forsage has 2 different set up for you. It’s like running 2 pyramid schemes concurrently.

how it works

The first set up which they called x3 (let’s call it Pyramid 1) is a 3*1 matrix. Which simply means 1 person (you) is expected to bring in 3 new participants to be spotted beneath you in the structure. And from there these 3 will start their journey in the system too.

The second set up which Forsage calls x4 (let’s call it pyramid 2) is a 2*2 matrix. Meaning you are expected to refer 2 persons to take their own spots beneath you who in turn will convince 2 new participants each. The journey has started for all these participants too. The system automatically allocates spots to new members.

The 0.5 ETH you paid to enter the system will be split in half with 0.025 ETH each going to your pyramid 1 and 2 uplines. But this is just the first round. Pyramid 1 and 2 have 12 rounds each (total:24 rounds) and you are required to pay increasing fees as you go through each round. You complete each round after the slots under you have been filled. The founder(s) say once you complete the 24 rounds, you need not do anything else to continue to receive passive income from your downlines forever.

You believe these guys? It’s all Baloney

Ask any of those compelling you to join this bogus platform, how many people they know can achieve all 24 rounds. Maybe the founders and those at the top but definitely not you.

Some misguided fans of Forsage.io are advising participants to purchase spots in the structure by themselves to hasten the process if finding new members is proving difficult. This will only be counterproductive in the long run. You can’t beat a system that is rigged against you to favour those at the top.

What makes Forsage a pyramid scheme?

All the signs point in this direction

  • Like all pyramid schemes each round or level or layer requires you pay a larger amount.
  • The structure is needlessly complicated.
  • All businesses require a form of buying and selling of a product or service to generate profits. Pyramids are not legitimate because no business is being carried out, participants are paid with the funds of other participants in ‘Rob Peter to pay Paul’ fashion.
  • It only exists for recruiting others

But why are we still calling pyramid schemes MLM (Multi Level Marketing)? That is just wrong. A misnomer. False advertising. ‘Marketing’ would imply they have a product or sell a service. They don’t. They only have Multi Levels. Call it a ‘pretend MLM’ instead.

Why do Pyramids crash or go dormant?

It’s simple Mathematics

To run a pyramid new members will need to keep joining the platform.

Here’s the best scenario:

Let’s assume the entire world population joins the system (which is literally impossible), but what happens then? The scheme still stops and fails because world population does not grow exponentially.

The most likely scenario:

At some point in the near future everyone who could join would have joined and the rate at which new participants join will keep dropping until it stops. And this is the point where pyramids crash. This point comes faster than expected because pyramid structures are designed to burn out quickly. You are expected to move fast through the different levels and rounds while acquiring lots of downlines who wants to move fast too. In no time, the structure runs its course and there’s no one else to join.

For regular pyramid schemes, this usually results in a crash. But for smart contract driven pyramid schemes it’s different because smart contracts are expected to keep running permanently. For platforms like this, when the structure reaches the limit with no one else joining, it will be rendered dormant with no activity taking place. That is the same thing as a crash isn’t it? Don’t let Forsage.io fool you. You don’t know what round you would be on when the inevitable crash happens. But one thing is certain- only the few at the top will stand to benefit with everyone else in the bottom losing.

Who won’t listen to this advice?

Sadly many won’t primarily because of greed and inexplicable naivety.

See for yourself

forsage users
forsage transactions

The growth rate of Forsage is scary and dizzying. I followed the link to their smart contract address on etherscan as shown above. 8–11 transactions are taking place every minute on the Forsage network. Let that sink in for a moment.

You can’t help people who refuse to be helped. You can’t save people from themselves.

Conclusion

Forsage is an illegal pyramid scheme that will crash eventually. Keep your money for a better investment. You’ll need it especially now as we feel the impact of Covid-19 induced global markets crash.

Meanwhile, stop dragging Ethereum’s good name through the mud.

I’ve done my part. Spread the word.

(See my list of recommended investment platforms here)

Got Questions?

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