The Eve Online 1 Trillion ISK Ponzi Scheme

Today it was reported via EveNews24 that two Eve Online players have stolen more than 1 tillion ISK in an eight month ponzi scheme that at one point was gaining 300 new investors per week. The two players setup a small corporation called “Phasers Inc.” and advertised their “investment bank” service claiming they could return a 5% profit of investors money on a weekly basis.

Eddie Lampert and Mordor Exuel, the two main players that ran the small corp, also ran the website Phasersinc.com, where players could go to sign up to invest. Well today they dropped the bomb that it was all a fraud. Below is the statement issued on their website with a full explanation of their scheme here.

Today is the day many expected to come.
Today, the 12th of August 2011, is the day where it all comes together.
Phaser Inc. is done, over, finished.

After a stunning period of eight months, we decided it’s enough.

No more new accounts.
No more mails.
No more payout days.
No more ISK.

No more Phaser Inc.
—

Most likely, this will cause a lot of questions.
The most important question will be answered right here, right now.
The ISK is gone; you will not see it ever again.
You’ve invested it, got a chance on some profit, but it turned out to be not the best choice you’ve ever made. That’s how investing works. At least, that’s how it went for the most of you.

One trillion ISK is no small sum and if you calculate that into real money it turns out to be a lot.  One billion ISK sells for about $24, so 1 trillion ISK is about $24,000. So, yea, that’s a lot of money.

So why did they do it? To put it in their words, “The main reason why we did it is; because we could!”