How Scammers Destroyed an Entire Country

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How is it possible for an entire country to be scammed into collapse. In this episode we'll see how Albania was scammed by a series of pyramid schemes that led to a civil war.
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Producer: Dagogo Altraide

[@FlyWithMe_666]

I fell victim to a scam before and learned my lesson! Now I met this nice Nigerian prince online who’ll help me out, so everything will be fine.

[@sharathbabugc]

😂

[@kurtilein3]

Be careful, i heared the nigerian prince got married to the russian model.

[@medokn99]

/s

[@hhKJgf1M8a0rzt8hP]

Nigeria apparently has a lot of princes, every day I get an email from a different one.

[@jonb3189]

That Nigerian prince is right now helping me also. 😂

[@redtsun67]

It's always so awkward when a family member or friend comes to you with a "business plan" and it turns out to be a pyramid scheme and you gotta explain to them that they have essentially been scammed. Even worse when they don't want to believe you.

[@juniorjames7076]

Mary Kay Cosmetics, AMWAY, etc.

[@souvikrc4499]

@@juniorjames7076 Herbalife, and as ColdFusion covered a couple of years ago, OneCoin

[@iche9373]

At least he shouldn’t put all eggs in that basket.

[@sumayyahadetunmbi4347]

lmao fr

[@777hathor]

Remedy. Get them to take you to their recruiter and see all the products they have in their office or shed. Because these people buy products when they are on sale hoping to sell it at full price to your friend. That’s the trick. Also you need a car, storage space and a phone. Then there is the paper work, going to meetings and dropping off.. I worked out that I’d be working for $4 an hour. And that was a long time ago. Worst of all the products are insanely over priced..if your struggling they are the last thing to buy. 🥰

[@b-art6098]

I'm from Croatia and one of these scams also wrecked havoc in my country, fortunately my mother worked in a bank and knew what a pyramid scheme is. Unfortunately my father didn't know and he wanted to "invest" all of family money in one of these scams but he needed my mothers signature. He would try to "convince" her how this is great opportunity but she would not budge. Then he beat her in front of me and my brother but she still would not budge. In the end that money was used for me and my brother to finish college and we are successfully business owners now. The irony was that my father before he died borrowed money from me that I would not have if he "invested" it into one of these scams.

[@alb-333]

we just came out of one of the worst dictatorial regimes, we were isolated, the people had no information... they used propaganda as if the west was carrying out a marshal plan for the Albania.this was also a work of the enemy agencies, we know very well who performed this masquerade. After a year, Kosovo was attacked and Greece tries to annex the south of Albania...

[@olliefoxx7165]

Well....that's depressing

[@alanharding2485]

Good story, a moral learned at the end

[@TheTuta69]

Calmest Balkan argument

[@milanotovic8223]

Kao i Jezda i Defina pocetkom 90 tih ovdje. Iskreno takve stvari nisu mogle bez ucesca vladi.

[@TheNomad1987]

I remember, I was 9 years old at that time and asked my father where would these firms get the money to give us and others the promised interest. He said that since there are many people who invested on these firms, the money will be generated by other investors who don't want their profit right away. Even at 9 years old I struggled to find the logic in long-term, so I asked again, how would then the profit of these investors generated? Doesn't make sense...He answered after thinking a little bit: "At this point ( he already had invested all our savings ) I don't care what others do. I'm confident I'll get my part of the profit.... Needless to say we lost everything at that time

[@theunfinishedbasement]

I feel for you man. My father still tries to buy internet guru get rich quick courses and hes almost 60. We make him cancel every time ofc. Age does not have a monopoly on wisdom. If you did that stuff when you were poor then its out of desperation and its more forgivable. If you get into scams after your well off, its because of greed.

[@TheNomad1987]

@@theunfinishedbasement It's like some people get blind on too easy to be true regarding these schemes...I don't know where this false hope of being true comes to them, even if they could've been burnt by similar ones. It's a mystery

[@alanwoodcock3284]

There were alot of pyramid schemes in the 80s/90s.

[@cowboycerrone2348]

I’m sorry to hear bro, I hope you and your family are doing well now.

[@kutter_ttl6786]

It's amazing when a 9 yrs old has more financial sense than a full-grown adult. I hope your family was able to recover from this.

[@blanknot_e]

I am from Albania. Sadly this socio-economic trauma is deeply rooted into the population perception on money. The general distrusts over economic institutions make us still rely on cash, online payments and such are still seen with skepticism. Cousins and relatives are still better resources to borrow money, loans are secondary, and corruption gets you anywhere. On the other hand tho, it is fascinating to see how fast things are moving, the shift in the economy is very visible these last 10 - 15 years. Tourism is booming and exports are seeing new fronts, as it goes with every population, hard work pays off, mistakes make you learn. Been a fan of this channel since early days, so much so it inspired me to create my own, seeing my countries name on a thumbnail sure did give me a goose bump or two! Keep the great work up!

[@arnowisp6244]

They are right. Cash is king.

[@user-qf5kl6cv2y]

@@arnowisp6244 Even the population of Germany, the richest nation in the EU agrees

[@petiadavis5122]

Cash is king!

[@dinos9607]

Finally, all that loot from Greece paid dividents.

[@unsrescyldas9745]

There is literally nothing wrong with what you said except "corruption gets you anywhere" seems like the Albanians learned their lessons.

[@vitelalex]

This happened in Romania after the fall of communism as well. It was called CARITAS here. It was said that at one point, a third of the country monetary supply was ran through the pyramid scheme. Pretty wild

[@gm2407]

The 90s must have been horrible in Romania when that happened.

[@emazio4122]

yea, but not to this degree

[@Akirilus]

@@gm2407 They were bad but we in Romania had an advantage, see Romania was in many ways extremely rich under communism. Not necessarily in terms of cash but we had cities recently built we had a lot of working farmland we had natural resources that could bring us back, that could feed the people despite the low money and we also had a lot of industry we eventually cut down and sold to outside powers to prop us up.

[@gm2407]

@@Akirilus So you had active assets (you were the beneficiaries of recent investment) that didn't need rebuilding from scratch to repair the cash shortage. That is a small mercy as without that it could have been a massively long term problem.

[@Akirilus]

@@gm2407 Yea, as you say. We were the beneficiaries of massive past efforts. Romania ended communism in a turning point, if we kept going we would have entered a bit of a golden age. The moment Romania had a revolution was a strange boiling point. We had been starved for like 10 years and worked to the bone to pay off all external debt and to advance the country. And we decided exactly at the moment where it would have all turned around to benefit us to have a revolution and kill our leaders in what I personally consider was murder as we had a mock trial and then an execution in the same day.

[@Monkey_D_Luffy56]

I tried to warn my aunt and uncle of the obvious scam they are trying to join. They are trying to join a business group but in exchange they'll need to invest roughly 500$ then they'll get a gift and if they invite another member they'll get a commission. I told them that it was an obvious pyramid scheme but they don't believe it and they got into a similar situation twice. They don't believe me since I'm just a teen

[@leas7830]

I am sorry to hear that. You are very smart. Unfortunately we adults can be really stupid and stubborn 🙄 And some need more than one teaching (if learn at all).

[@Monkey_D_Luffy56]

@@leas7830 It's just sometimes they can't see things that are obvious because they're occupied with something else like work, family or whatever that is but they need to be more skeptical on everything specially in this age where misinformation and scams are everywhere. I'm not that smart I'm still trying to learn things and I need adults to help me with that, not that stupid but yes REALLY stubborn sometimes 🤣

[@MattSuguisAsFondAsEverrr]

damn

[@qwopiretyu]

​@@Monkey_D_Luffy56 tell them to give you $500 instead, and promise them a gift, and a commission of the $500 they get your grandparents to give toyou. Then they'll get it

[@jjcoola998]

lol yeah you’re spot on they are about to join another pyramid scheme.

[@dirkpeeters6173]

Regarding your sponsor Aura, I am not judging Aura's technical quality per se, but, from a cyber security protection point of view, it is a really bad idea to trust one single company with so much of your sensitive data and, on top of that, use the same company for all your cybersecurity defences. It comes down to this, one product that claims to do everything never is the best in class in every single department and, in (cyber)security you never put all your eggs in a single basket.

[@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368]

Words of wisdom: "If it's advertised on KZbin, it's crap"

[@bangerxshane]

It's up to the buyer to research these things. If regulation of ads were too tight, then companies can't get their revenue, and the consumers end up with fewer options.

[@clray123]

@@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368 Surely you mean "if it's advertised, it's crap".

[@fabio.santos]

Mine claims to do the same

[@thereignofthezero225]

​@@bangerxshane these commies don't get it

[@sergi7071]

I'm an Italian born in the 90s and my best friend is Albanian, he come to Italy as kid and I've been there plenty of times (Mostly up to Shkodra). I consider Albania my second home and seeing what this was it's pure pain for me. Now Albania is economically growing up very fast, hopefully making normal people a bit more rich rather than a small elite. I always hope the best for our brothers!

[@laurenconrad1799]

It often feels like it’s easy to wipe out a country’s economy but painstakingly hard to grow it back. Similar to a single person gaining or losing weight.

[@saveriov.p.7725]

yes it's a challenge to maintain this mass. i keep becoming skinny again

[@TheIndogamer]

Takes days to create a good concrete wall. Takes seconds for a bomb to destroy it.... looking back at this reply I also thought: It takes days to create the bomb too. Takes months to create the tools to create concrete and tools to create bombs. Takes months to find the materials of the proper amount of cement to create concrete, and the TNT for bombs to blow the concrete wall. It just seems that destroying is faster than building, but maybe that's not always the case. In a way, the destruction had been constructed from the start, we just didn't see it.

[@turboed1337]

Took 40 years for Hoxha to improve it and then after death no prominent leader took the lead instead they fell in the trap of capitalism. I know it's not capitalism's fault, however cunning people always exist everywhere. It doesn't matter what ideology one has, left or right, what matter deeply to us people is personal satisfaction of being rich and socially achieving top hierarchy. These things are bound to happen. Can we elaborate and solve this problem in society? I believe we as a species need one major revolution in the context of evolution. We need to evolve morally.

[@freespiritable]

Most of the economy is based in Ponzi schemes. We were unlucky cause the mastermind behind it was the head of the country. People got cheated in such way.

[@freespiritable]

​@@turboed1337 i wouldn't say they fell in the trap of capitalism, I'd call it dor what it was, they were criminals that took advantage of people's ignorance and trust.

[@mihabru2354]

Never thought I would see a (sad) piece of my country's history appear in an episode of one of my favorite youtube channels. Thank you!

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

after the collapse of the communist government. everyone in the eastern bloc is taking a drug called free market capitalism. up to an overdose. they drink it until they forget the reason communism existed because of free market without government regulation could be more dangerous because no one will be held responsible for the chaos that results from this overdose

[@jacobkuntflapp]

Bro, you been living under a rock, Albania is a shithole

[@Agent-ie3uv]

I l0v3e albania, wonder why turks and greeks put extra N to the country name of 🇦🇱. I wouldn't put it here because yt will delete it 😴🙄

[@MrVibriocholerae]

​@@Agent-ie3uv im greek and have no idea what u mean

[@officer_friendly_]

Thank God I'm not born albanian, it's honestly shameful being albanian.

[@MrKoNtI1]

I'm from Albania 🇦🇱 thank you so much for the amazing detailed video Cold Fusion TV, big fan of your channel ❤️. This was a devastating event for Albania. I was 8 years old and my sister was 11 when the civil war happened. You could hear every 10 minutes an ak-47 unloading his magazine, seeing tracing bullets up in the sky. I remembered how we hide every day behind the walls of the house not to get killed by random bullets flying everywhere, even peaking on the windows was dangerous for months isolated. Hopefully, the whole world understands the pain and devastation we faced as a country and why persists even to this day.

[@StoutProper]

Did people hide in the bunkers?

[@Cunat121]

@@StoutProper probably the poor or those fighting

[@JelMain]

The Police and Military Armouries had been emptied, but all the blasting off into the air exhausted the ammunition and things became more stable. Much went to Kosovo, where a Muslim resistance to the Serbian Catholic Orthodox ended up with a precedent in War Crimes trials. Serbia is still being encouraged by Russia to believe that it has a historical claim over the rest of the former Yugoslavia, but that's going to get nowhere now a couple of States are now in Europe. In the longer term, one might see this as a continuation of the Balkan issues of c1430, and the original land-holdings of the eastern end of the Holy Roman Empire coming to grips with the Ottoman Turks.

[@fnuppyfnup]

@@JelMain Fortunately , politicians do not always manage to manipulate everyone , I am eternally grateful to the Kosovar Albanians who warned my father's family in kosovo at the onset of ww2, about Skenderberg divisions (albanians allied with Germany in WW2) that were coming in to ethnically cleanse the whole village. There's plenty of evidence of Albanian empire ambitions - see the 'Greater Albania' flag that claims the Presevo Valley in Serbia, Macedonian, Greek and Montenegrian territories as their own. Kosovo is not enough. It keeps popping up at football games and has been publicly endorsed by personalities such as Dua Lipa. No other countries in that region has such dangerous ambitions combined with a largely tribalistic population that blindly follows their leaders. Not to mention was Kosovo has become, a hub of human and drug trafficking.

[@AKANI32]

Albanian here, i was 6 yo and living in my grandma’s place near the center of Tirana (the capital). You can see the building behind the protesters at 11:01 Sali Berisha was the president (amongst others, who endorsed the pyramid schemes) he also sent the troops to quell the rebellion and ordered 2 fighter jets (only ones the country had) to fire on rebelling civilians. The pilot’s took off and sought asylum in other countries. I don’t remember much but i do remember seeing looting everywhere from the balcony of my grandma’s place. In different neighborhoods dads would form groups with any weapon they had to patrol and protect the neighborhood. This one time 2 masked guys with ak47 with black taped magazines (2 together on opposite ends) were stationed right underneath our balcony. My grandpa dropped water with a rope for them from the balcony (3rd floor). They were thanking us and saying they’d keep the building safe. Never knew who they were. In the distance you could see people just running across towards the central avenue with boxes and different looted items. There were stories of someone in a nearby neighborhood commandeering a tank but i never saw it. You could find shells everywhere on the ground and sometimes the shooting would start and never fully stop for an hour or so. You never knew where they were shooting from or to and lots of people had stories of stray bullets getting inside of apartments, we all ducked inside my grandma’s apartment when you could hear the shooting. I remember the word ricochet being used a lot. There were gangs blocking streets, emptying every car passing and stealing anything they could. Sali Berisha was reelected as prime minister this time in 2005 and stayed in power through 2013. The same guy who had vouched for the safety of the pyramid schemes was reelected somehow… Today he’s the leader of the opposition holding control over the Democratic Party. Survived an expulsion and managed to vote out the DP leader and took over the position. He’s still attempting to come back to power and people’s willingness to blindly follow him is so weird.

[@matthewdawang]

that's crazy and your ending part of the story was really the same pattern here in the philippines, our country was ruled by a dictator and our people overthrew them (kind of) and fast forward 4 decades later, his son was elected as the president 😂 sick

[@twoheadeddatascientist3289]

I am from Albania and I want to say thank you. I love your book New Thinking. You are a great intellectual and content creator. Thank you.

[@scottishfold7929]

I'm Italian and I remember the images on the news when I was a child of the landing of 20,000 Albanians in Bari in '91, an impressive and heartbreaking thing, even President Berlusconi (yes I know, he's an asshole) started crying

[@dernamenlose4950]

Did he really cry?

[@scottishfold7929]

@@dernamenlose4950 Surprisingly, yes. You can still find videos online.

[@dernamenlose4950]

@@scottishfold7929 I was searching but didn‘t find a video about it

[@besimsala20]

Grazie

[@legendal2463]

grazie mille per tuo komento. Era molto dificile dopo il comunismo in Albania. La gente aveva perso la speranza

[@higherresolution4490]

I'm from Southern California, but was living in Northern Italy near Aviano Air Force Base in 1996 and 97'. Unbelievably, there was no news of what was going on in Albania. Once back in America, needless to say, not a shred of news coverage. The exact same MLM schemes happened in Russia and Romania after the fall of the Berlin Wall. No consequence to white-collar crime. Just look at the plush lifestyle that FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried & his parents enjoy in Palo Alto, California.

[@souvikrc4499]

European news media was likely focused on what was happening in ex-Yugoslavia, and American news media is known for its lackluster foreign coverage.

[@Fyre0]

SBF had a luxury life in the Bahamas where he hoped the law wouldn't touch him.

[@vasiovasio]

Exactly the same situation in Bulgaria, too in the '90s...

[@cisium1184]

_"Once back in America, needless to say, not a shred of news coverage."_ Yes there was. I remember it. Granted, I lived in Boston where there was a relatively high number of Albanian immigrants, but it was on the national news as well.

[@ФеофанЭтополедолжнобытьзаполне]

In Russia dude behind the scheme served time in prison.

[@ilirlluka6789]

I am Albanian, 38 years old, I lived through this and what I can say is this: The sad element in all this is not the existence nor even the implementation of the pyramid schemes per se as they are just one of the many faces of corruption (especially in post-communist states) which is in itself a human condition, thus it has always existed in various economic forms and will always exist, what is the most absurd part in all of this is the fact that now after all these years, 26 years, in fact, those who were then in power in the government and gave free rein to the pyramid schemes, and who were then overthrown by the people, are now still in fact in power again, they never left, it has just been a vicious cycle, a closed loop where individuals that yesterday were considered murderers are now still an active part of the system, the change has not been progressive only cyclical. This is the sad reality of post-communist states passing into capitalism but not through a systematic implementation of reform but thrown into it. This happened in Russia, Romania, etc everywhere where Communism existed for more than half a century.

[@ilirlluka6789]

@Let's talk on👉@OfficialColdFusionTV Thx for the consideration dear bot, I hope that especially after watching this video, it would make total sense for you to have some altruistically invaluable cryptocurrency investing advice for me.

[@i1bike]

its same everywhere, you just think its only where you live

[@philipwangila244]

I don't blame communism but capitalism. Capitalism if not checked well is subject to exploitation and abuse by a few to steal from others in a more subtle way

[@georgioskanderbeg]

@@i1bikeit's not the same. The closed loop the guy mentioned is the reason why the economy is stagnant. It's been 30 years and despite some infrastructure development, people still struggling to raise a family, migration never ends, population is shrinking and gdp barely increases from year to year... no bro it's not everywhere like this

[@i1bike]

@@georgioskanderbeg it is

[@blatherama]

I was in the US Peace Corps in Albania right as these scams were starting. I warned several students off them. I hope they listened. One of my former colleagues got caught up in them, though.

[@lfc-europe]

I had no idea about any of this. Pretty crazy it happened so recently. Thanks for sharing.

[@DonkeyRhubarb21]

Having been alive, but youngish when this happened, it's one of the few things I've never been made aware of on the Internet. Thank you for making this. I truly appreciate what you make and your channel.

[@archipiratta]

The sad thing is that those who were tasked with ensuring this would never happen either profited handsomely from the Scheme or just turned a blind eye. 😢

[@amorepsyche808]

My university thesis was about this devastating event of my country…how can these CRIMINALS that robbed an entire nation sleep at night is beyond my comprehension 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@VentiVonOsterreich]

I only knew about this moment in Albanian history thanks to your content because it's been overshadowed by the Yugoslav Wars and the Kosovo War Thanks for helping us know about historical moments that weren't mentioned often if at all

[@mind.tutorial]

These events are connected, Albania as an ex communist country was full of arms which were unofficially sold or donated to Kosovo Army

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

after the collapse of the communist government. everyone in the eastern bloc is taking a drug called free market capitalism. up to an overdose. they drink it until they forget the reason communism existed because of free market without government regulation could be more dangerous because no one will be held responsible for the chaos that results from this overdose

[@boris035..4]

@@mind.tutorial Terrorists built terrorists...that's the way :D

[@boris035..4]

@João P K So?

[@mind.tutorial]

@Boris035 .!. You can say what you want , the truth is that Serbia was trying to do an ethnic cleansing

[@Clean_Slate]

As a Greek, I know from fellow Albanians that Hoxha is pronounced as Hoja. Just thought it should be mentioned

[@Blue_8800]

Always doubt hojas, they are never good news...

[@duljanleka9383]

All misspellings of Enver Hoxha, are welcomed in Albania 😀.

[@goytabr]

I always think it's a matter of courtesy and respect, when you're talking about foreign countries and will have to say foreign names, to search for the correct pronunciation and at least try to approximate it the best you can. It's so easy these days with the Internet. I'd certainly be unable to do that with Southern African languages like Zulu or Xhosa, with those impossible clicking sounds with the throat that our brains never learned how to do, Caucasian languages like Georgian or Chechen, with those (literally!) dozens of strange (to our ears) consonants, or tonal East Asian languages like Mandarin and Thai, with those subtle tones to which we speakers of Western languages are mostly deaf but make a lot of difference in meaning. But I don't think it would be absolutely impossible to do with any European language, even the difficult non-Indo-European ones like Hungarian or Finnish. They'd just require a few more rehearsals. I think that failing to try at least a heavily accented approximation is rude and inconsiderate with the people from that country.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

after the collapse of the communist government. everyone in the eastern bloc is taking a drug called free market capitalism. up to an overdose. they drink it until they forget the reason communism existed because of free market without government regulation could be more dangerous because no one will be held responsible for the chaos that results from this overdose

[@greenearth9945]

Are greeks and albanians close culture wise?

[@renaldyhaen]

My grandpa was a victim of Ponzi scheme. I'm not really remember it because it happen when I was kid, maybe 5-6 years old. Luckily we not lost many money at that time. And we learn from that incident to avoid the same scam in the future. Until now, sometimes my grandpa still tell story about that scam and how he hate it.

[@KudretAlgan]

My company decided fo invest in Albania for rice cultivation. The government supported in all aspects and hired us the land. We borught lots of machinery, management who knows rice cultivation and hired local manpower for the purpose. Our goal was to produce 5.000 tons of rice for the first year and all was planned and provided accordingly. In the middle of season, most of the workers left the job with all kind of reasons they have created. Almost all of local people around does not have any work to support themselves. People who left the job requested compensation of 10 times their salaries by threatining us with killing as all came with guns. Equipment began to dissappear at nights due to theft. Summary: This journey ended in the first year, ALL of our equipment (rice machinery, tractors, trucks, even our cars were STOLEN except one harvester which we kept in a friend's warehouse. Despite our efforts we only produced 20 (twenty) tons of rice which were taken by local workers as they called "compensation of their efforts". Our total loss was about 2 million dollars. Thank god we returned alive by the help of a few honest Albanian friends.

[@nonebusiness4488]

wow. just wow.

[@nonebusiness4488]

yes, albania was always a tough hood

[@gent9358]

Same thing happened in Russia during the 90s, ours was MMM, they had to arrest the directors of it because the people stormed their office and wanted to tear them apart limb from limb.

[@cc-dtv]

You have no idea how excited I was to see this video, knowing the backstory and seeing who produced it, thank you !!

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

after the collapse of the communist government. everyone in the eastern bloc is taking a drug called free market capitalism. up to an overdose. they drink it until they forget the reason communism existed because of free market without government regulation could be more dangerous because no one will be held responsible for the chaos that results from this overdose

[@sophiaisabelle01]

It's amazing to see how much information is presented in this. I'd say this is a good analysis overall.

[@joankamberaj]

It's just wikipedia into speech

[@k1dicarus]

@@joankamberaj Wikipedia into speech with good visuals and a nice voice narrating it like a bot still could not. Im glad I stumpled upon this piece of history through his channel. I dont know if I would have done that on wiki some day.

[@fidelty2427]

so i give aura all my sensitive info...yeah no thanks.

[@TQFMTradingStrategies]

Bruh we just watched the 16th largest bank in our own country collapse basically because of its exposure to dog coin scammers. So lots of lessons to learn here people….

[@shimirealty]

Thanks for making the video and educating the World about what happened to us, I left Albania when I was just 13 years old during the civil war in 1997, and the video is entirely accurate. We are making progress since but still lot of work remains to be done.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

after the collapse of the communist government. everyone in the eastern bloc is taking a drug called free market capitalism. up to an overdose. they drink it until they forget the reason communism existed because of free market without government regulation could be more dangerous because no one will be held responsible for the chaos that results from this overdose

[@JKARMIS1]

I was in the Greek Army when this happened. We were so bored keeping records on explosions and shots at the border

[@rafanadir6958]

​@@JKARMIS1 do you realize how cruel is what you just said? People were dying and you were bored, because you had to keep a record of something...

[@froglifes6829]

Albania did not have a civil war in 1997

[@USAMogle]

​@@froglifes6829 it did though look it up

[@nanuixx5620]

There is a really good and interesting book telling all this history of Albania from the eyes of a growing up child/teenager. It's called "Free" by Lea Ypi, who also later emigrated from Albania and is now a Professor at LSE.. I read it when visiting Albania, which was one of the most beautiful countries I've ever visited...

[@SofijaSofijaSofija]

Didn't know know about this and I'm from a neighbor country close to Albania. Just goes to show how media tries to segregate us by not spreading the news. Love from Serbia 🇷🇸

[@gangulic]

Same here

[@Dhimo758]

Albania and Serbia are not neighbours

[@blagojepetrovic223]

​@@Dhimo758 The guy tries to extend an olive branch and you do this...

[@rodrigoadrianrodriguezaedo4477]

Remember that Serbia considers Kosovo as part of their country, so Serbians consider Albania to be a neighboring country

[@SofijaSofijaSofija]

@@Dhimo758 I also said "close to Albania" so take that as you want. Idk if you are stupid or just trying to be hateful.

[@lvh912]

Thanks again for another great video Dagogo! Being scammed can happen so quickly if you're not aware of it... After I left uni, I have been approached by a tutor/mentor that I held in high esteem. I just started my career and as every self-employed person knows, money/cash flow is a big stress factor at the beginning. I suppose he thought I might fall victim to the pyramid scheme he was involved in, in order to be able to stay afloat financially. Fortunately, I had already been exposed to this subject through your videos among others and I shut him down immediately. It still affects me to this day as I now struggle to fully trust people. All of that to say, be mindful of "too good to be true" propositions, even (and I would argue, especially!) made by people close to you, that you implicitly trust.

[@laaaliiiluuu]

The combined greed of smart, psychopathic business people and desperate, stupid investors can destroy entire nations.

[@yingle6027]

I feel like everyone gets scammed at least once in their life before they learn the lesson. The trick is don't ever be too greedy and if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

[@kindklan8020]

idk but actually what if it isn't?... there are rare cases where it is actually that good

[@yingle6027]

@@kindklan8020 Sure there are times when you can't believe what you are getting away with but this leads to insatiable greed -I've been there. Greed then becomes the undoing of all your hard work and luck.

[@pyromaniack13]

I grew up playing RuneScape. I can see scams coming from a mile away

[@tristangabrielo]

I know it ain’t as big as many but it hurt enough for me to learn, I was a kid who got a beautiful hat on a MMORPG it didn’t even gave you any special stats just kinda uncommon and beautiful looking, a guy came and swore he would upgrade it, that he already activated something expensive and promised he wouldn’t scam me, the second I gave it to him to upgrade it he just logged off, I was devastated, it was a cheap lesson monetarily speaking but a bitter taste to reality

[@yingle6027]

@@tristangabrielo Haha same thing happened to me on Diablo II when I was a kid, lost my best sword!

[@earthling_parth]

I completely forgot you were on Nebula. I would never have imagined that a whole country's financial system could collapse because of pyramid schemes. This was an eye-opener.

[@nishantsingh5385]

You know the situation is grim and desperate when you see those men crying loud on Roads.

[@googleuser4207]

That is from serbian atrocities. He used misleading footage.

[@notmenotme614]

The video footage isn’t even from Albania, it’s from the war in Kosovo

[@ardip.6930]

SVB bank collapsed in America this week..Now, imagine that...but for most banks in the country

[@apeerzada987]

My love and support to the people of Albania

[@USAMogle]

thanks

[@ΚλαϊντιΑ]

I am one of those people whose parents migrated to Greece because of this catastrophe, Greece provided many opportunities but a lot of challenges, bullying and racism at the same time, It has been many times that I wished this would have never happened and for Albania to be a normal country so my family could live there instead. To this day Albanian immigrants are still treated badly (this began when people started migrating to foreign countries, you saw the state of Albania from the video, it was lawless and a lot of people turned to crime and theft in the foreign countries in order to have a piece of bread to eat, I am not surprised that the citizens of those countries were angry back then, but a lot of time has passed and these crimes are not usual anymore). Corruption is still extremely high and I have no hope of going back there...

[@freespiritable]

It was, it isn't anymore. But Albanians don't like to build much. We want easy paths, already built countries, already built societies. We all want Albania to be better yet no one wants to stay and make it better. Everyone leaving, cowards. Please have the decency of not trash talking my country.

[@tiusernamenabalw]

On behalf of all greeks I am sorry for the racism you faced. Albanians are now an integral and highly productive part of modern Greece. I was surprised when I was in Tirana a few years ago, that is was easier to communicate in greek than in English. I hope Albania is in EU one day.

[@3dcomrade]

​@Zaydan Alfariz difference is that India and China grows. Albania? Not so much India and China 10 years ago are different and better. Albania is stagnant

[@immortalxgr]

There isn't a single case of mass migration in history where racism wasn't an issue. I'm Greek and was already an adult during the influx and have witnessed the suffering, and sometimes, mistreatment of your people. However (and with no intent of rounding the corners) the vast majority of us provided clothing food and shelter back in the day. I certainly did. In fact, the number one problem for Albanian people who became early members of the workforce, was raids and theft from Albanian gangs formed from prison escapees. You have to understand that it's inevitable for any country's people to be worried when their borders collapse and there were certainly many incidents of racism and bullying. There's no denying it. But it is widely accepted that from the list of countries that were migration destinations, Greece was the most easy to blend in. You're right that to this day there are still some hot-headed people who haven't accepted the fact that we are all equal. It's a global problem of humanity though and certainly not one which Greece is characterized for! Be well, stay strong, and ignore the toxic people!

[@seyl717]

​​@@immortalxgr He already said all that in his comment. Greece as a state is very bullish towards Albania and even citizens to this day.

[@Techtips200]

These kinds of scams are called chain marketing in India.... young students and even older people too fall prey to such schemes....

[@benderbendingrofriguez3300]

Can you make a video about Silicon Valley Bank? It has been on the news after its stock felt 60% yesterday (03/09/2023).

[@ColdFusion]

On it

[@dkprotek]

Welcome to Bali....Island of the Scammers Visitors beware

[@TheAndertejker]

I think that we had same scheme in Serbia too. I was young at the time but I remember my relatives, who worked abroad, talking that they lost all their savings to some banks or coorporations.

[@yaredyoseph2909]

You can only get such refreshing stories communicated simply in THIS CHANNEL. Very hard to find a substitute. Thanks again man.

[@h3llpro]

Interesting! As a long subscriber of yours I did not expect this! The moment the word 'scam' is used, albanians my age(35 and above) get a slight 'vietnam flash' of that unfortunate event called, in short, "97". There are two critical points. One is, how unprepared for "Capitalism" we were and the second one, most important, is "Besa" meaning 'faith' or 'give you my word'. Well that "Faith" that describes us albanians took an immense amount of damage and we are yet to recover from. We put our trust and faith in something that eventually led us to a catastrophy!

[@TheNomad1987]

Ironically there is a loan company called "besa foundation" here in Albania...

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

Okay, I saw the thumbnail and thought it read, "The fall of Alabama", and as that's where I live, I was dying laughing 😂. "Where to start?" was my next thought, lol.

[@MirandaSinistra]

What's happening in Alabama?

[@loguchennai]

Alabama already fell and dusted...

[@mjaubee9880]

Its so sad, i did not live during this time, but my mom and dad did. They tell me stories how easily you could get shot when the so called civil war started, since everyone was armed and havoc was being wrecked almost everywhere. In Tirana, our capital, there used to be an amazing monument in front of the pyramid buidling (yes an actual pyramid - even though now its being transformed into some contemporary architechture gentrified bullshit), which was a huge bell made of the shells from the bullets used back then, collected by the students and melted to make the bell itself. It used to be so impressive to me as a child. The was of 97' is deeply ingrained in Albania's national consciousness and is one of the biggest events in our country's history. However, what i will never understand is how people still can blindly support Sali Berisha (the president shown in the pictures) when he played a big part in having albanians trust these horrible schemes.

[@mjaubee9880]

This bell is not there anymore, unfortunately i do not know where they put it now, since the pyramid building is being reconstructed. It was called "Kembana e Paqes" (the bell of peace), there are still images of it on google :)

[@diegodoumecq5144]

The fundamental thing to remember here is that the money didn't dissappear, it was just distributed very unequally

[@notmenotme614]

Money never disappears, so everytime your Government say a project is costing them $1 billion. Who is the money going to.

[@thedarkenigma3834]

@@notmenotme614 Into politician's pockets.

[@the.randomstuffguy]

Thank you for this video Dagogo!! Unfortunately there is still a lot of corruption and poverty in Albania, no matter which party has ruled since the civil war. I was born in 1996 and luckily my dad took me and my sister in1999 in Greece and had a descent life there.

[@local_authority]

But you only have 2 subs

[@robertraymond348]

@Zaydan Alfariz you need to elaborate more on that

[@WheezyShotta]

Love the historical content mate, honestly didn’t know much about this before watching. Keep up the great work Dagogo : ) 🖤

[@takudzwamupanesure3222]

Damn I resonate with parts of the the situations the people of Albania faced. Corruption and misgovernance has destroyed my country. To everyone facing the same, lets fight till we get it right💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿

[@TheAkdzyn]

What does your name mean?

[@invader7191]

Thank you, which country are you from?

[@80bbygrl]

I had several Albanian friends here in the United States back in the '90s, and their fathers were just as strict as it sounds like their leader back in their home country was... That's a damn shame. They weren't even allowed to socialize with us Americans outside of school.

[@gigisilk798]

ColdFusion being unbiased, informative, entertaining on top of soothing, relaxed music and narration is also my guilty form of great ASMR.

[@notmenotme614]

A lot of the footage in this video isn’t even from Albania or anything to do with banking scams. The footage is from the war in Kosovo.

[@RafaelScapella]

I visited Albania a year ago. The country has one of the lowest purchasing powers in Europe, but I did see improvements being made. Coming from Italy at the time during the pandemic, I felt a lot more free in Albania.

[@invader7191]

On paper our GDP per capita is still slow compared to Western Europe but also the cost of living is much lower here as well. In Italy a regular police officer earns 700 euros per month (in a big city) in Albania they earn 500 per month but the rent in Tirana is 300 euros a month on average for a 1 bedroom, in Rome its $1500 per month. Everything in Italy is at least 3X more expensive than in Albania.

[@invader7191]

There are also a few thousand Italians (mostly pensioners) who live in Albania now.

[@briandstephmoore4910]

Ugh this is heart wrenching. I wanted to shut it off quite afew times but I made it to the end, it's important to see as gross as it is. Kudos to you for showing it sir.

[@johanlahti84]

In my opinion, pyramid schemes is what banks do too. But legally.. You put your savings into a bank, and they lend most of it to the next guy. The first ones to withdraw their money in a crisis can get their money. But most will not get most of their money if the bank fail.

[@yakacm]

We know an Albanian family here in Glasgow, as theirs kids went to school with my daughter, they are a lovely family, nice people.

[@bkrmds]

ColdFusion your game in videos lately is out of this world! Just brilliant!

[@quantumdagger2462]

So you accusing him being an alien 🤨

[@HTehnique]

The topic presented in this video was one that was previously unknown to me -- thanks Dagogo, it was an interesting dive into the past.

[@RLelling]

Albania was not in the Soviet Union.

[@HTehnique]

@@RLelling thanks, my mistake - have corrected it now

[@boowiebear]

Such a sad story I had never heard. Thank you. It sounds like they are on a good path now.

[@dioclescissoid]

I always wonder to what kind of scams are we all oblivious to today. Free web services? Selling out our private date? Various shady or maybe even official investment and saving offers?

[@dahliacheung6020]

Good lord 2/3 of an entire country investing in pyramid schemes... I thought the US was bad. That's horrifying

[@Thanksforthefish]

Very interesting and with many parallels to Yugoslavia in the 90s. That you can also investigate. There were two occurrences in Yugoslavia, one by Dafina, who was later allegedly killed by the Yugoslav secret service, and Jezda (Jezdimir Vasiljević).

[@ms_cartographer]

Albania is a prime example of how both unfettered communism and unfettered capitalism can go wrong.

[@chelseaxhamb6516]

What he explained at the beginning is how a Ponzi scheme works. A pyramid scheme is not the same.

[@jpmtlhead39]

I was in Albania in 1986 for an UEFA Football match with my team playing against Dínamo Tirana ( with more 100 Young man from my Football Team Supporters group), i was 22 years old but already well traveled across Europe,follow my team in international competitions,and personaly have been in some very rough places,full of so called " Hooligans" and in some serious situations,but the only time that i felt real and true "Fear" was in Albania. Man,looked like everyone wanted to kill us,for real. A very Scary place in those days.

[@diannshoemaker6419]

It USED to be, pre NET, a robber had to, ACTUALLY break into your house. While we STILL lock our doors and widows, WE ALLOW THESE CROOKS...TO JUST WANDER IN.Too good to be true....IS NEVER TRUE.

[@TomCRitucci]

Never forget. If something seems to good to be true, it probably is.

[@DarkAngel-np4ur]

the same has happened and is still happening in Lebanon now. this would also make for a good subject topic for the ColdFusion channel; the biggest scheme in history estimated at more than 100 billion USD, in a scheme between the central bank and the leading banking institues, covered by a corrupt political class and a media at the service of the highest bidder.

[@nothingspecific314]

yes you read my mind

[@NikoBee90]

Brilliant content as always. It does make me wonder though why Albanians were so much more vulnerable to these schemes as opposed to other former Yugoslavian countries. We had a rush of con artists following the collapse of Yugoslavia and the general feeling amongst all of us was that of extreme scepticism (Croatian/Serbian) Former middle class or poor. That scepticism was difficult to manage when moving out west and trying to navigate a financial environment that offered services like savings/investment accounts and credit cards but it always made me ponder the majority of the Albanian people I met and their willingness to jump into questionable investment opportunities or shady deals.

[@TheNomad1987]

What were Tito's policies on migration at communism era? Because under Hoxha you couldn't even tell anyone that you like to go to another country since this warranted jail time followed by isolation of you relatives and all sorts of tortures. That means that almost all of all graduates were illiterate on liberal economy, piramid schemes and their risks and other economic jargon that capitalism has. Also with the destruction of the heavy industry ( which although barely functional, rudimentary and with obsolete tech, was the backbone of Albania's economy) , the head of the family struggled to keep the family from even starving, so even a glimpse of hope that it could succeed, such as a very shady investment was worth trying. Many people understood the implication but thought that they could get their profit before the collapse. My father was one of them

[@NikoBee90]

@@TheNomad1987 Well put and quite insightful, thank you for that

[@OyVeey]

​@@TheNomad1987 Tito was a lot less of an isolationist, and his own version of communism still incorporated markets to some degree. The Yugoslavian population was a lot less isolated from the global economy.

[@mihailo674]

@Afrim Hoxa Tito had a different view on socialism compared to USSR. Even though Yugoslavia was communist with all companies being state-owned, it had a market economy, kinda like China today. Migration wasnt prohibited, in fact, instead of picturing the US as our sworn enemy in his ideology, Tito put effort to make positive relations with both the east and west. There is a saying "he was such a capable diplomat that he convinced Americans to lend him money so he can buy Russian weapons". Foreign investments helped a lot in developing heavy industry. The Đerdap power plant was a joint project with Romania. When the Greek military dictatorship fell in the 70's and we were allowed to visit there, it was shocking for us to see how a NATO country could be less wealthy than us, having watched western movies and thinking that money grows on trees over there. If there's something more you want to know in detail feel free to ask.

[@AST4EVER]

these MLM schemes were rampant in my India too, also, they were during the 1990s, market liberalisation took place right at that time. Market policy change and Fraud were happening all around the world at the same time. Why..?? How..?? Peculiar, isn't it....

[@brianshook3289]

I went to Albania just for an adventure, got locked down for covid, then as things loosened up went wandering around. Its a very beautiful country, great food, great beer and Rakia!, all very cheap, and the history, all the ancient castles and such, what a great place to explore, but the biggest thing was the people, so nice, old world hospitality! Its an honor to them that you would come visit! Loved the place, I would walk into a little tavern, and they would all ask me where I was from, soon, the Rakia was slinging back and forth, and I had a room full of new buddies. Tourism has a bright future there, Hope they do well, they are so nice.

[@Donerbrt]

All of eastern europe is cheap if you come from the west. It's not cheap just for those that actually live here

[@ZlatnoPeroTV]

I'm surprised that Albanians drink beer and rakija since most are Muslims.

[@brianshook3289]

@@ZlatnoPeroTV i was also surprised, but they do like to have a drink, no issues with that as far as i could tell. Quite friendly and nice people, the food was great, always lots of olives and cheese, and homemade bread, its loaded with good scenery too

[@FearFest420]

​@@ZlatnoPeroTV the majority being muslim is such a myth. Yesif you ask me i am muslim as my father is but i drink alcohol, ear port do haram. One thing about Albania is that religion didn't stick as much after it had been outlawed so you see people calling themselves Muslim but not practicing the religion. And then comes the good part no one really speaks about religion so not very much hate crimes such as you see on the west.

[@_mili808]

@brianshook3289 i'm from kosovo, glad to know you enjoyed your experience!

[@TheJoe278]

Can you eventually do a video on what is happening with Silicon Valley Bank?

[@Tzmaker]

Degogo to Albanians in 1997: "Promising returns up to 50% per month, that everyone knows is unrealistic" Crypto Investors in the 2010s: "Hold my beer..."

[@MrCristiBV]

Romania had ‘Caritas’ which was the same, a lot of people lost everything. This is humanity, the powerful exploiting the weak.

[@ranilabeyasinghe]

Can't imagine how bad it must've been for them to lose all their life savings like that. Clearly they were very desperate to improve their finances if they invested all their savings in the scheme. As a rule of thumb, I try to invest no more than 10% of my savings into risky stuff. I'm happy to forgo the extra return in exchange for the knowledge that I won't lose 90% of my principal.

[@qwopiretyu]

General financial rules state: invest 10%, save 10%, enjoy 30%, survive on 50%

[@deniseproxima2601]

It was theft. Everyone know it.

[@ankitrai3380]

Not sure if this reflects well on capitalism

[@Meditativefriend]

Great video as always. On the ad for Aura. I’m Not sure how I feel about a company who’s services require integrity when they very clearly ripped off intellectual property from “Oura”. Same name- different spelling but they didn’t even pretend to change the logo. I’m now curious about what else they “made”. I know nothing about the company but did raise a bit of a flag for me

[@useralpha9090]

I was last year with my family on holiday in Albania And it's admirable how much progress has been made in just so few years. We had a great time and we will definitely go again❤

[@rakias1982]

I remember when albania was in unrest people would cross the border and sell kalashnikovs for a pack of cigarettes in Greece.the Greek government had to crack down in the border villages because everyone had assault rifles,grenades,even rpgs just for some cigarettes

[@saradomin89898]

video starts at 2:45

[@speedingatheist]

It's so simple. If you get an email from a company talking about a problem NEVER follow a link in the email. Use your own bookmark to go to your account. This way phishing is no longer a problem besides receiving spam emails.

[@NOFX0890]

You cant feign intelligence while waving that flag...

[@Skewrz]

​@@NOFX0890 Speaking of a billion+ dollar scam lol.

[@NOFX0890]

@@Skewrz 😉👌 Now the Georgians are getting the freedom burgers.

[@Davidpeinao]

@@NOFX0890 why?

[@martiddy]

@@NOFX0890 What do you mean?

[@jadam4036]

Never heard about this but now I know I’m gonna spend the rest of the day watch videos on Albania’s history like… this is actually crazy I need to know more like how did they overcome all this.. truly amazing I’m so intrigued fr

[@Tanu.90]

Dagogo you are awsome man, you are one of my favorite youtubers... and now you deal with historic events in Eastern Europe... even better. Greetings from Romania! 🇷🇴

[@banacmiodrag4867]

Romania had a similar issue in the 90's, with a company called FNI, a hedge fund business. Many invested and just as many lost everything in a few months, the guy who did this became a celebrity and was proud of his achievement, he gave financial advise from Prison :))))) . People looked up to him since he was "clever" and knew how to make money. A total shit show!

[@vitelalex]

Să nu uităm de CARITAS

[@banacmiodrag4867]

@@vitelalex Banca Religiilor, alba neara, cate si mai cate :)))

[@lautaroka5847]

Well, he was right. He made money out of idiots who deserved it.

[@banacmiodrag4867]

@@joaocosta3374 its because of the mindset, some of them are upset that its not them who pulled the ponzi scheme off. Sick society!

[@julius43461]

Oh my that must have been horrible. I live in Serbia and I had no idea Albania went through something like this in the 90's. Just few months ago a scheme like this called "Kangaroo treasure" has left many people without their savings over here. Still, it was nowhere near as bad in scope and severity. I always just assumed Albania was poor for the same reason we are.

[@vasiovasio]

Exactly the same situation in Bulgaria, too in the '90s...

[@mihailo674]

Tfw you have a cousin, a succesfull businessman, who still fell for one of these 💀. I mean those banks were litteraly advertised on national TV. Good thing for him is that he's an optimist, and he was just like, "God gave, God took away" and moved on.

[@aggelosvasilis7457]

Wow seeing footage of my town where I was born is something else...I had to live as a kid through this hard times and it was so hard for the people.. We were sleeping with arms and on the floor cause of fear..

[@Nerathul1]

I am so confused how Coldfusion talks about a Pyramid scheme... and then proceed to talk about a Ponzi scheme instead...

[@benderbendingrofriguez3300]

When you make the video on SVVB, probably it will be a long one, taking into consideration that after it collapse, other regional bank have collapse such as Signature bank, and who knows. The stocks from Bank of Hawaii have been halted, as well as First Republic bank from San Francisco.

[@kaug5570]

Thank you for your hard work and all the research that went into this video. However, I think it bears noting that the dictator's name is pronounced /Ho'-ja/ - since we're all here to learn, I think even small things like that are important to get right.

[@rastikw]

Yes, it was painful to hear how it was pronounced in the video.

[@prowlermadmax2]

Love you're show, keep up the great work.

[@Love1Another-YT]

A very rich man once said, "If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before."

[@JudasMaccabeus1]

My dad starts receiving scam phone calls at around 8 am EVERY DAY. And they will continue to call 5-10 throughout the day.

[@nhoover]

I am so glad to see this and learn more about this time. When I cycled through Albania last fall, I learned a lot about Hoxha and the times of communism there but not about this Civil War. Thank you!

[@nhoover]

Not sure what you mean by proper. But there are places to stay and eat and very nice riding, so I guess so!

[@nhoover]

@Zaydan Alfariz I also did a tour of Holland last year and Albania is not at all like that. Holland is super-'proper infra' I guess.

[@X_mano]

4:28 when you tryna travel abroad but get caught so the authority exile you to the country you are planning to travel in the first place.

[@YOQishere]

I am waiting for you to make a video about the Banks ( SVB etc) situation because you explain things so I can understand! Please do it!

[@Prismatic_Rain]

When are talking about what a pyramid scheme is I couldn't help but think "It sounds like he's describing bitcoin"