Heads I win, tails you loose
April 19, 2018 1:52 AM   Subscribe

Fake it till you make it: meet the wolves of Instagram. The rise and fall of binary trading and it's associated affiliate marketing on social media in the UK (Plus bonus! It's replacement by cryptocurrency hype)
posted by fearfulsymmetry (17 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
If this isn't illegal, the law needs to change. Belfort went to jail for something unrelated to this fraud, and it sure doesn't sound like any of the people higher up that food chain have suffered any consequences at all, except for gobs of other people's money.
posted by Dysk at 3:07 AM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


So gross. It sickens me that we have a culture in which this kind of sleaze and grift is celebrated. I can understand the appeal of the dream that they're selling—living a comfortable life while barely working at all sounds pretty nice, what I wouldn't do if I had a surplus of time and money—but the people who are buying into it know it's sleazy. They just see themselves living in a world where the most successful people they can think of—finance moguls—are essentially just very successful grifters, and they're not even necessarily wrong in that assessment.

But ugh, the whole thing seems so dead-eyed and soulless, even if it wasn't a big ol' pyramid scheme where the success of a few winners can only exist because of the failure of many times more losers. We live in a culture that worships money above all human virtues.

The whole "social media influencer" aspect of it is one that I just find absolutely exhausting. To hollow out your life until it's been reduced to a "personal brand" on Instagram… I get tired just thinking about it.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:15 AM on April 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


To hollow out your life until it's been reduced to a "personal brand" on Instagram… I get tired just thinking about it.

Compare/contrast the main subject's Instagram with the #vanlife people. The latter is supposedly less materialistic, but they're both centered around vehicles as lifestyle signifiers.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:02 AM on April 19, 2018


Binary options are considered so volatile that they have been banned outright in the US.

WOW. If there's a financial thing that's so bad the US won't let you do it, you know it's really bad.
posted by Ragged Richard at 5:14 AM on April 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Once you come to believe there is no future, as do so many people today (both young and old) it becomes quite easy for one to be sucked into a scam such as this. It's really no different than the goldbugs that prey on older people. It's just that scams like this are tuned-into a more digital-native generation, expanding the scam's reach exponentially.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:15 AM on April 19, 2018


As someone who actually does aspire to a mobile, nomadic existence I feel you on the #vanlife stuff. I do follow a couple of vanlivers on Instagram though, and while I'm sure this isn't true for all of the #vanlife crowd, the people I follow seem to be talking about their reality rather than selling a dream. I see posts about stuff like breakdowns, weather sealing, and the frustration of being parked somewhere beautiful like Zion or Big Sur but having to spend your day hunched over a laptop in the van, working. It seems like a lifestyle with plenty of its own challenges, just different ones from what most people face.

Part of me does wonder why the converted cargo van is such an emblem of the movement, though. Like, why not an RV that was designed and built from the ground up for this kind of living? But while I may eventually settle for an RV, the idea of doing up a van DIY-style with reclaimed wood paneling and my own furnishings according to my own ideas and needs just sounds very satisfying. It feels like a worthwhile form of self-expression in a way that buying a used RV just doesn't.

Anyway, derail over. Just had some thoughts and wanted to share.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:40 AM on April 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Ugh. Being a computery sort of person I have a domain name which includes the word 'binary' in it (and not a lot else). This means that in recent years I have quite often got mis-addressed email intended for binary trading operators. This about a 50/50 mix of "here's that proof of ID you asked for", with full unredacted scans of passports/credit cards/drivers licences/ssn documentation/etc, and pleas for help tracing missing deposits/expected payments in their accounts.

I used to reply to these trying to offer sane advice but with the rate of vitriolic responses and the increasing volume, I eventually gave up.

All very sad :(
posted by merlynkline at 6:05 AM on April 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


Part of me does wonder why the converted cargo van is such an emblem of the movement, though. Like, why not an RV that was designed and built from the ground up for this kind of living?

If I had to guess, the converted van appeals to the "maker" ethic that so many younger folks connect with.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:19 AM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Or, maybe it's just a 70's revival thing?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:24 AM on April 19, 2018


Ugh. Being a computery sort of person I have a domain name which includes the word 'binary' in it (and not a lot else). This means that in recent years I have quite often got mis-addressed email intended for binary trading operators.

There's a lot of cryptography specialists these days who feel your pain.
posted by acb at 6:38 AM on April 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


re that #vanlife tangent - check out this Vice interview with a couple of vanlifers which features such quotes as 'no, we're anti-capitalist, like we're outside of capitalism' followed by shots of them posing with $$$$ luxury watches they are being paid to wear and promote and 'yeah, it's hard, like we made way more money individually before this but now we only make like... six figures a year'

white folks have this amazing ability to just not notice their privilege at all, whatsoever, even when it is just absolutely blinding. this poor kid trying to scam his way to fame seems less a miserable thing than those 'legitimate' white folks. both reprehensible but privilege buys you 'legitimacy' - it gives you access to tools that the moneyed elite employ, networks with which to fashion your own life, the materials by which you establish your aesthetics, and so on; all poverty gets you is enough desperation to start taking part in underground economies even while you know the rest of the comfortable classes see you in only their most vitriolic gaze
posted by runt at 6:41 AM on April 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Tangent Alert!

why not an RV that was designed and built from the ground up for this kind of living?

New, they're very expensive, particularly if you lust after the wild country capabilities of four wheel drive.

The interior furnishings are usually ugly as sin.

Used, (with rare exceptions) they're a leaky, moldy mess thanks to the same shoddy construction techniques used to build disposable camping trailers. Luckily though, that provides a steady supply of cheap scrapyard stoves, fridges and other RV appliances for the van converters.
posted by CynicalKnight at 6:43 AM on April 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Yeah CynicalKnight and Thorzdad, that has pretty much been why I want to go DIY instead of just buy a gently-used RV. And the few people I follow are more of the dirtbag hiker/climber type who have a remote job that's basically just a means of generating enough money to keep travelling, hiking, and climbing. I steer clear of all the stupid "brand ambassador" crap, though I've no doubt there's a ton of it out there.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:51 AM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Further vanlife/RVlife derail:

My father in law does the full time RV living thing and he is constantly working on maintenance not only on the RV itself, but also the truck that hauls the thing around. It ain't cheap, folks, as RVs are not built to be lived in full time. Also, he is constantly backing the thing up into a tree or a rock or anything else that is low hanging and strong enough to fuck shit up. Then there is also the critters looking for a warm spot to spend a cold night, chewing on wires and other important shit. That being said, I can't imagine him doing anything else in his state of retirement. I know he loves roaming around the country, fishing and hunting in new places. He's been doing this for so long only because he is a handy fella.
posted by NoMich at 6:53 AM on April 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


#vandownbytheriverlife
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:42 AM on April 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


So, binary options. Clearly just another way in which "financial instruments" are simply legal gambling, right? (Except so transparently that they're not actually legal in a lot of jurisdictions.)
posted by tobascodagama at 7:45 AM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Used, (with rare exceptions) they're a leaky, moldy mess thanks to the same shoddy construction techniques used to build disposable camping trailers. Luckily though, that provides a steady supply of cheap scrapyard stoves, fridges and other RV appliances for the van converters.

Also, they're death traps on the road, as they aren't crash tested at all. You hit anything with an RV, and your vehicle disintegrates, sending all of that weight forward into where you're driving.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:08 AM on April 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


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