swissgolden-logoThere is no information on the SwissGolden website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The SwissGolden website domain (“swissgolden.com”) was registered on the 22nd of May 2012, with the registration simply listing the company’s name as the domain owner.

An address in London, England is also provided, however this is a virtual mailing address provided by Regus (£59 a month).

Meanwhile in the SwissGolden service agreement, the company claims to be registered in the British Virgin Islands (a known tax-haven).

As always, if a MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.

The SwissGolden Product Line

The SwissGolden website has a “WebShop” featuring “gold ingots” ranging in price from 42 to 3129 EUR.

If you try to add any of the products to your shopping cart however, nothing happens.

There’s a “to order” button at the bottom of the page, however if you click that the WebShop demands a SwissGolden affiliate ID.

For all intents and purposes it appears SwissGolden do not sell anything at a retail level.

The SwissGolden Compensation Plan

The SwissGolden compensation plan revolves around affiliate purchasing positions in four matrix levels.

An additional points-based performance bonus is also offered.

Matrix Commissions

The SwissGolden compensation plan revolves around affiliates purchasing positions in a series of reverse 2×2 matrices.

A 2×2 matrix places an affiliate at the top of the matrix, with two positions directly under them (level 1):

bon-voyage-compensation-matrix

Under these two positions another two positions are created each, with these positions making up the second level of the matrix. In total there are six positions to be filled.

Positions in the matrices are filled via the purchasing of positions by SiwssGolden affiliates.

Once all positions in a matrix are filled, SwissGolden pay the affiliate who holds the top position (the pay position) a commission. At this point the top position cycles out, and the two positions on level 2 form the start of two new matrices.

This leaves four positions empty in both of the two new matrices, which are then required to be filled before the pay position earns a commission again.

As mentioned previously, there are four matrices in the SwissGolden compensation plan. Here are their respective payouts:

Preliminary

The Preliminary matrix is the first of the four, with positions costing 220 EUR each.

Once all six positions in a Preliminary matrix are filled, the pay position is paid 72 EUR and cycled into the bottom of a Main matrix.

Main

The Main matrix functions the same as the Preliminary matrices, with the exception that new positions are fed into the bottom of Main matrices via cycled Preliminary matrix positions.

An affiliate can also purchase additional position in a Main matrix for 720 EUR.

A Main matrix position is able to cycle through a Main matrix up to three times, paying out 1890 EUR the first and second times and then 2520 the third time (total payout is 7000 EUR).

Note that if an affiliate’s position cycles into a VIP position at this point, they will be charged 2800 EUR (the cost of the third cycle payout).

VIP

VIP matrix positions must be purchased for 2800 EUR.

VIP matrix positions follow the same three cycle formula as the Main matrices, paying out 7425 EUR on the first and second cycles and then 9900 EUR on the third cycle.

Note that if an affiliate’s position cycles into a VIP Plus position at this point, they will be charged 9850 EUR (subtracted from the third cycle payout).

VIP Plus

VIP Plus matrix positions cost 9850 EUR and once again follow the three cycle formula. The first and second cycles pay out 26,460 EUR and the third 35,280 EUR.

Recruitment Requirements

Note that the above commission payouts are only applicable if an affiliate cycles out of a matrix with two personally recruited affiliates holding positions in the matrix.

If this is not the case, then the following cycle commission amounts are instead paid out:

  • Preliminary – 200 EUR
  • Main – 700 EUR
  • VIP – 2750 EUR
  • VIP Plus – 9800 EUR

For the Main, VIP and VIP Plus matrices, it’s unclear whether or not positions that cycle out without 2 recruited affiliate position in the matrix run the full three cycles.

Leadership Bonus

The Leadership Bonus is funded with 10% of every matrix cycle commission payout. Note that to keep things simple, I’ve already deducted the 10% from all the quoted cycle commission payouts above.

The Leadership Bonus is a points based bonus, with an affiliate generating points each time they cycle out of one of SwissGolden’s matrices.

To determine how many points an affiliate is awarded when one of their positions cycles, the amount paid out is divided by 500.

Eg. If an affiliate position cycles out of a Main matrix for the first time, they are paid 1890 EUR. 1890 divided by 500 is 3.78.

The amount of points allocated is then paid out using a level system, with an affiliate’s total accumulated points dictating the EUR multiplier used to determine the Leadership Bonus paid out on each cycle:

  • 1 to 99 points = 15 EUR per point
  • 100 to 299 points = 20 EUR per point
  • 300 to 999 points = 25 EUR per point
  • 1000 to 2499 points = 30 EUR per point
  • 2500 to 4999 points = 35 EUR per point
  • 5000 to 9999 points = 40 EUR per point
  • 10,000 to 24,999 points = 43 EUR per point
  • 25,000 to 49,999 points = 45 EUR per point
  • 50,000 to 99,999 points = 47 EUR per point
  • 100,000 to 199,999 points = 49 EUR per point
  • 200,000 or more points = 50 EUR per point

Using the points generated in the above example, and assuming it is an affiliate’s first cycle, they have a total 3.75 points with 3.75 points paid out.

This equates to a 56.7 EUR commission (3.78 * 15).

If the affiliate in the example had 50,000, the same 3.78 points would result in a 177.66 EUR bonus.

Note that in order to qualify for the Leadership Bonus, a SwissGolden affiliate must cycle out of at least one Main matrix. So too must two of their personally recruited affiliates and two of their personally recruited affiliates each.

Joining SwissGolden

Affiliate membership to SwissGolden appears to be free, however affiliates must purchase a matrix position in order to earn commissions.

This makes the defacto cost of SwissGolden affiliate membership at between 220 EUR (Preliminary) to 9850 EUR (VIP Plus).

Any additional matrix positions will increase the cost of affiliate membership.

Conclusion

As with all the gold schemes running out of Europe, the SwissGolden compensation plan is a soup of terms like “tables” and “orders”. The company does it’s best to present an outwardly complex compensation plan, merged together with somewhat legitimate sounding terminology.

In effect, SwissGolden is no different to your standard matrix-driven Ponzi pyramid hybrid scheme.

Affiliates sign up and buy matrix positions. One enough new matrix have been purchased, either directly or indirectly, they get paid.

In this sense SwissGolden functions like a Ponzi scheme, with an affiliate’s matrix position qualifying as the investment.

The recruitment requirements to earn the full ROI (matrix cycle commission) and Leadership Bonus introduce a pyramid scheme layer to the scheme (hence it’s a hybrid).

The Leadership Bonus serves merely as a recruitment incentive, requiring a huge amount of recruitment to first qualify (if all positions cycle in from the Preliminary matrix level), and then directly paying affiliates based on the total number of cycles they have (requires recruitment and/or investment in positions).

As is usual with European gold scams, the gold component of the scheme is irrelevant. All funds taken in by SwissGolden are cash, and similarly commissions paid out are the same.

To create the illusion of legitimacy, the standard gold storage and postage of gold options that are typical of these schemes are offered.

The gold storage sees SwissGolden take affiliate funds from their backoffice and purchase gold with it. Up until that point there is no gold purchased, with an affiliate’s funds used to pay off existing investors who have cycled out of matrices before them.

At this point an affiliate can pay a storage fee of 0.1% of the value of the gold each month, or opt to have it sent to them.

Again it’s important to note that while gold may indeed by purchased at this point, it’s only after the Ponzi/pyramid scheme business model has paid out.

The facade presented to affiliates is that gold is being purchased from the get go, but that’s obviously not the case (or SwissGolden would not have any money to pay matrix cycles with).

With nobody in their right mind opting to have gold sent to them (prohibitive shipping fees), the third option is to simply withdraw SwissGolden commissions as cash. And thus the standard matrix-driven Ponzi pyramid hybrid scheme circle is complete.

As with all Ponzi pyramid hybrids, recruitment slows down and affiliates stop purchasing matrix positions, said matrices will begin to stall. Once enough matrices have stalled the scheme collapses.

Those with funds trapped in matrices are unable to cycle out, and the admin does a runner.

And in the case of SwissGolden we don’t even know who the admin is, so that’s definitely something to keep in mind.

The absence of company ownership details on the SwissGolden website and registration in the BVI is not an oversight, it’s by design.