On June 29, 2009 (May 7, 2009), Madoff, the main culprit of the "Ponzi scheme", was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Bernard Madoff, the main culprit of the largest financial fraud in the history of world finance, was sentenced to 150 years in prison by the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York on the 29th local time. Madoff, who is 71 years old, will spend the rest of his life in prison. On June 29, 2009, the Madoff financial fraud case that attracted worldwide attention finally came to a conclusion. As expected by the public, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. The Madoff trial began at 10:00 am local time on the 29th in New York. After nearly an hour and a half of court statements, the judge read the verdict against Madoff at 11:30 without any objection. Long before the trial began, a large number of victims and media reporters of Madoff's case gathered outside the courtroom. When the verdict was announced, many victims felt happy. In interviews, some interviewees, in addition to accusing Madoff of cheating, also proposed reforms to the U.S. Securities Supervision Commission. Madoff's wife, Ruth Madoff, has agreed to give up about $80 million in family property and leave only $2.50 million in cash to reach a settlement agreement with federal prosecutors. The agreement has been approved by Judge Danny Chen of the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York. At the same time as finalizing the agreement, the court also ordered the forfeiture of Madoff's property of about $170 billion, because prosecutors believe that the amount of money flowing into Madoff's investment company has reached this level. Madoff's fraud case involved more than 60 billion dollars, making it the largest "Ponzi scheme" in the history of world finance. On December 11 last year, Madoff was arrested on suspicion of financial fraud. Comments: Before the crime, investing money in Madoff was a status symbol. Extended reading: How much do you know about the top ten classic financial fraud cases? Extended reading: How much do you know about the top ten classic financial fraud cases? "If you can't cross a square, you can't change forever." If you know the enemy's layout, it will be much easier to crack the enemy's scam in daily financial management. "Who made the money, you are called domineering in the world, some people will sell their lives for you, and some people will go to jail for you..." A lyric that reflects the temptation of money tells the story of how many people have been imprisoned and lost themselves because of it. Scammers set up all kinds of scams to defraud money, and people step into scams to gain more benefits. Countless facts tell people that in addition to resisting the temptation of money, it is also particularly important to see through the fraudulent methods of scammers. Scam: Ponzi Scheme Ponzi scheme is one of the most common investment scams. It is a variant of pyramid scheme. Many illegal pyramid schemes use this trick to amass money. This scam was "invented" by a speculator named Charles Ponzi. A Ponzi scheme is also known in China as "tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall" and "empty gloves and white wolves". In short, it uses the money of new investors to pay interest and short-term returns to old investors in order to create the illusion of making money, and then defraud more money. Charles Ponzi began to engage in investment fraud in 1920. About 40,000 people were involved in the scam, and they were defrauded of up to $15 million, which is equivalent to $150 million in today's dollars. Ponzi ended up in prison. Scam: Serial Letter Scam Dave Ross is the creator of the most famous serial letter in the world. More than 20 years ago, the first formatted serial letter was sent from the post office. The title of the serial letter was "Make Money Fast". The letter asked the recipient to send a certain amount of money to several names listed in the letter, and then copy the letter and send it to other addresses. The serial letter promised that the result of this was to make a lot of money with a small investment, and earn 40,000 pounds in 60 days. In China, it is often seen in text messages, QQ groups, Weibo, and forums that "Forward and increase the phone bill", "Send this message to 10 friends, and you will add 10 yuan to the phone bill. I just tried it. Please check the fee after the test." If you encounter such letters and posts, you can ignore them. SCAM: Pyramid scheme scam In 2001, a pyramid scheme called "Women Empower Women" became the subject of headlines in the world's newspapers. The scam swept across the UK, causing huge losses to many British women. The scam used an entry fee to encourage women to invest, promising to invest £3,000 and get £24,000 in return, and tried to extract contact details from members' family and friends. Many lost £3,000 in membership fees. Scam: "419 Scam" Have you ever received an email in English from someone claiming to be the family of a high-ranking Nigerian government official whose bank account was frozen due to a coup or corruption, and who needed help to transfer tens of millions of dollars out, and then asked you to provide the funds and bank account details, help them transfer the funds, and promised you a generous return, but in fact they will empty your account. This is the "419 Scam" in Nigeria. According to the survey, Nigerian scammers cheat money from online banks up to 40 million dollars a year. Scam: Marriage Scam It is often said that love can blind people's eyes. This may be the reason why more and more love scammers scam through Internet dating centers. In July last year, six middle-aged and elderly women posed as builders, returnee businessmen or widows who left a huge inheritance. They placed false advertisements for marriage in tabloids and magazines, specially to defraud middle-aged and elderly men with low education level, and defrauded millions of yuan. Of course, there are also cases of "rich and handsome" defrauding "rich women". Scam: Lottery scam. Organized crime gangs in Canada called some British families and told them that they had won the Canadian lottery jackpot, and that in order to redeem the prize, they had to pay a certain amount of handling fee. Despite the clumsy methods, many Britons were still fooled, and some were even defrauded of 40,000 pounds. Last year, there were media reports that many people in Guiyang picked up the second prize of 260,000 yuan in the "scratch prize" on the roadside. The way to redeem the prize is to fax a copy of the ID card and a bank card account. Such a scam, the elderly are the most easily fooled. Scam: Pyramid scheme In the 1990s, 70% of Albanian families invested $1 billion equivalent to 30% of the country's annual GDP in this bottomless pit over a five-year period. The scammers promised to pay investors as much as 20% -30% monthly interest. Two-thirds of Albania's population lost their life savings in one of the most destructive pyramid schemes, triggering street riots that left thousands dead and nearly triggering a civil war in the impoverished country that eventually brought down the government. Because from the start, the scam was backed by the government. Scam: Close Scam The Barlow Close scam is one of the most notorious scams in British history. In the 1980s, Barlow Close absorbed money from 18,000 private investors who believed they were investing in riskless government bonds. In fact, large sums of money went into the private account of the company's founder, Peter Close. He used the money to buy private jets, luxury cars, mansions and luxury yachts, and lived a luxurious life until he was exposed and went to jail. Scam: Leukemia scam Some scammers know how to touch people's heartstrings. A few years ago, a couple in Indiana, USA, claimed that their child had leukemia and hoped to fulfill her dream before the child died. The whole town was mobilized to donate, and finally raised $13,000. The truth was that their child was healthy, and they flew to Disneyland in Florida with the fraudulent money to have a great time. Scam: Virtual banking scam The online game "Second Life" that became popular around the world features a virtual bank "GinkoFinancial" that claims to generate high returns for investors. But the virtual bank soon collapsed, leaving many people unable to get their money back. Then there was another bank on Second Life, which closed its doors after absorbing a large number of virtual currencies, Linden Coins, and the two founders of the bank exchanged 2.50 million Linden Coins for the real currency, $5,000, and never appeared on Second Life again.