The Game That Stole $130,000,000

Even if you are an avid video gamer, you might not have ever heard of the game Ciftlik Bank. It's a Turkish game, and in English the title is Farm Bank. From a cursory description, it sound like a little like FarmVille, but it was so much more. Ciftlik Bank was set up to be a game, an investment in Turkey's struggling agriculture industry, and a money-making opportunity for players all at once. The whole complicated idea was appealing to a lot of people, but it actually turned out to be a Ponzi scheme! Ciftlik Bank was developed by Turkish rapper Mehmet Aydın, also known as Egoman. Aydın got rich off the game, and managed to enjoy his loot long after the players realized they were being fleeced, and long after Turkish authorities started looking for him. This video comes with a list of sources in case you want to read more on this story. There's an ad at 3:45, but it's only about 20 seconds long. (via Damn Interesting)