1 dead in rioting over Colombia pyramid scam

[Judi Lynn]

1 dead in rioting over Colombia pyramid scam
Mostly poor investors fleeced of millions in scheme offering big returns

updated 6:16 p.m. CT, Thurs., Nov. 13, 2008

BOGOTA, Colombia - At least one man was killed in rioting over the collapse of a pyramid scheme that offered 70 percent returns and fleeced its mostly poor investors out of millions of dollars, Colombian authorities said Thursday.

The victim was shot dead Wednesday evening in a southern cocaine-producing region where angry investors were demanding their money back from a company called "Dinero Rapido Facil Efectivo," or DRFE.

The name means "Fast Money, Easy Cash" in English.

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Dead man had tried to calm investors
The man killed Wednesday night, Byron Santander, was a public official who was trying to calm upset investors in Buesaco when he was shot by an unknown assailant, Mayor Jose Maria Moncayo told the AP in a telephone interview.

"We don't know who did this or why," Moncayo said, adding that nearly every family in Buesaco, population 22,400, had money in DRFE.

More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27705846/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombia $200 Million Pyramid Scheme Leaves Three Dead So Far

November 14,2008
Colombia $200 Million Pyramid Scheme Leaves Three Dead So Far


BOGOTA -- The number killed in violence linked to the collapse of financial pyramid schemes has risen to three with the death of another man at the hands of an angry mob, authorities said Friday.

The man was killed in the southwestern town of Rosas, in Cauca province, because he was holding at his home a quantity of cash his policeman son-in-law had seized from the local branch of Proyecciones DRFE, one of several phony firms that lured investors with promises to pay interest rates as high as 300 percent.

Dozens of enraged depositors arrived at the home of Heriberto Taticuan and demanded he hand over the money.

Rosas Mayor Roberto Jose Diaz Lopez told reporters that the man initially denied that he had the cash and later was killed when he refused to hand it over.

More:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=320475&CategoryId=12393