A few quick calculations show why the majority of participants in these ridiculous schemes will lose out. Once the scheme collapses (and they all do eventually) there will be approximately 7 times as many losers as there are winners. For example, a typical scheme (with 8 for 1 recruiting) that collapses after just 4 layers will have 4096 losers and only 585 winners. Someone who chooses to participate in such a scheme hoping that they will be one of the winners is essentially hoping that they will be part of a successful fraud in which a whole load of people get ripped off.