Supposedly you don't intend to swindle your friends, if any of your mates invites you to an event at Hotel Le Royal Dbayeh to propose a business plan - Don't go, unless your time is free as a free bird and the invitation is free as a free beer.

Some people are renting halls there and will try to persuade you, rip you off and rip off your friends under the title of "The future is now". This post summarises my prematurely-ended story with Bonopha/Kyoob7.

The main purpose behind is to make people aware of the rencently propagating scam and prevent future one that might affect our society and Before proceeding this, I suppose you are familiar with the Pyramid Scheme fraud concept and Gold Mine Int. (GMI) - the scam that invaded Lebanese universities for the last 6 years where many of our friends lost big amounts of money.

A pyramid scheme is an unsustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public.

The attached graphic reveals the unsustainable geometric progression of a classic pyramid scheme, from Securities and Exchange commission report on pyramid schemes.

How Pyramid Schemes Operate ?

Let's look at how a pyramid scheme operates from three points of view: the potential investor, the promoter or con artist, and the victim. Many pyramid schemes will present a payout formula or matrix much like this one:
(Taken from Federal Trade Commission website: http://www.ftc.gov/speeches/other/dvimf16.shtm)

My story with Bonopha and Kyoob7

Suddenly! After 3 years of disconnection, an old mate contacted me to join his "next big thing" discovery; as he mentioned "it's a concept that is going to BOOM and I am going to really really really...really love", He gently asked to invite friends; the event was held at Le Royal hotel Dbayeh.
After several impossibilities of attendance I decided to go and support him. It was a Sunday night, I cancelled my projects awaiting for the special surprise.
Arriving there at 7:45, It was the type of special "invitation" where you have to pay 10 USD to attend - okkkaayy not a problem.
I was trying to find a common ground between the invited 600 peeps and locate myself between them, they were all types of people : dancers, journalists, prostitutes, business men, graphic designers, artists, musicians, engineers, etc...

My 1st impression was like: "what the hell am I doing here?", I later realized that "my sunday night just got ruined, good thought for not inviting my friends".
In a showroom, they were holding presentation about stuff called Bonofa and Cube7.
During the presentation I was like : "What the fuck is this shit?"

The presentation seemed generic oriented, didn't seem targeting Lebanese audience, it was the type of too-good-to-be-true marketing videos.

Going further through the presentation, those people failed to convince me that they are not a Pyramid Scheme. Their motto was "FUTURE IS NOW" (me : yeeeyyyy ! I wanna try this time machine!).

According to the presentation, to join Bonofa, there are three package tiers you can purchase:

• Premium – 299.90 EUR
• Exclusive – 949.90 EUR
• VIP – 2490.90 EUR

Bonofa / Cube7 Presentation

What is Bonofa / Cube7 according to them?

1. Bonofa is a company based out in Germany.
2. It's your best solution to get into business and become rich - It is a business offering better opportunities for making large sums of money than all other conventional business and professional models.
3. It's a company where you pay your money with EURO currency and you become a partner (wouhouuuuuuu, I have my own business !)
4. Cube7 is an online social networking / shopping website where you meet friends, recommend merchandise to buy... and have fun
5. There are 3 types of subscriptions: Normal, Premium and VIP (Lebanese papaz like this one)
6. Cube7 combines 4 products (as said being developed by Lebanese programers) : Communication (currently launched in beta version), Entertainment, Shopping and gaming (currently in development progress)
7. You pay a certain amount and you have to invite friends/family  to pay the same amount in order to reconcile your money
8. The more your invite people join and pay, the more you get money.
9. Bonofa/Cube7 is not a Pyramid Scheme because they sell products w heik ossas.
10. You are dumb if you don't join them.

What is Bonopha / Kyoob7 according to me?

1. Yet another pyramid scheme, it is a reshaped version of GMI (Gold Mine Int.) integrated with trendy online shops, social networks with addition to games and applications; for the record GMI was spread in universities and was pubclicly flagged as scam by several governments.
2. Those people KNOW they are scam and are obviously trying to hide it, they polluted Google and Bing for falsive reults to fade away real scam reports.
   If you google "Bonofa Cube7" + "scam" or "review" keywords combination, all the results you get are written by Bonofa supporters with high rankings before even the launch of the social media app (knowing that the app is still under preparation). All real scam Google results showed started showing begining the 5th page and got only 2 results.
   (I will be glad if this post reaches the 2^nd page of google, knowing it legitimately obeys seach engine requirements)
3. Bonofa is based out in Germany, but Pyramid Schemes are prohibited there - they are looking for uneducated soil such as Lebanon to plant their fraudant seeds.
4. Comparing to GMI, all money statement and transfers are calculated in .comPoints, they replaced the e-money of GMI by the .comPoints - which have no tangible value of money.
   And by the way, you get .comPoints bonus if you behave *wink**wink*.
5. You are a shareholder without signing any papers with no official and legal proof from Lebanese Authorities.
6. They preach you about economical independence, that Bonopha/Kyoob7 can lead you to open your own busines, and how to reach stable state.
7. Actually, all they care is to rip you off - this is how your Bonopha friends will always preceive you.
8. Their Cube7 social media website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are still under the German language:
   https://www.cube7.com/page/PAGE_TERMS_OF_USE
   https://www.cube7.com/page/PAGE_PRIVACY

Conclusion

This system only benefits the founders of the network marketing systems, because they own the products and have thousands of downline distributors and those at the bottom keep struggling to create their own downline. On the other hand, if your check Pyramid Scheme signs, all of the appear to be found in Bonofa/Cube7, you can always encourage your friends to combat pyramid schemes by educating themlseves about how to recognize and avoid this type of fraud; you can visit all the below links for additional legal and official information. And by the way, If you still think of Bonofa/Cube7 as a good investment then with all due respect you deserve to be ripped off.

External links:

• Pyramid Schemes and Lebanese Folks: A Perfect Mix (GoldQuest, Q-Net, Herbalife and Cube 7) : http://ginosblog.com/2013/07/08/pyramid-schemes-and-lebanese-folks-a-perfect-mix-goldquest-q-net-herbalife-and-cube-7/
• لبنانيون يحتالون ويسرقون أموال الناس بمشروعهم - http://goo.gl/wpCYBz 
• The Ten Big Lies of Multi-Level Marketing : http://pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/resources/tenlies.html
• How to detect a Pyramid Scheme : http://pyramidschemealert.org/more-resources/articles/
• Pyramid Scheme Scam Calculator : http://homepage.net/pyramidcalculator/
• How to avoid a Pyramid Scheme : http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-a-Pyramid-Scheme