Gift circle

Gift circles or heart circles are a form of the snowball or pyramid system. After joining the group, new participants "give" money to members who have been there for a long time, in the hope of being "given" gifts themselves later, after moving up the hierarchy.

Designations

The following names are also common for gift circles: fractal travel, jump, heart circle, entrepreneurial circle, ladies of heart, heart women, heart spiral, star circle, sun man circle, lotus blossom circle, mandala gift circle, power circle, ellipse circle, ball circle, heart club, star (en ) taler, round table, Arthur's round table, knights and squires, solar wind, sun child, cash gifting, chart, “women help women” or family & friends.

Construction and process

There are usually four hierarchical levels . On the first level there is a player who can be “given” money from eight participants in the fourth level. The amount of the donation varies from district to district. It can total up to 40,000 euros. The player of the first level is eliminated. The players of the originally second level are now on the first level and have the eight newly recruited participants "give them" money on the fourth level. In order to keep the circle going, more and more participants have to be recruited.

The sum of 40,000 euros is calculated from eight bets of 5,000 euros each. The background to this total limit is the original gift tax allowance of 5,200 euros in accordance with Section 16 (1) No. 5 ErbStG old version

Esoteric paintwork

Many circles have an esoteric tinge, and there is often a euphoric mood. Interest is aroused with terms such as “group energy”, “friendship” or “positive experiences” and an “energy field of abundance”. With sentences like “Giving money means learning to let go” or “In the age of love and warmth of heart we show the world that there is enough for everyone”, the participants are motivated to “give”.

Some circles especially want to address people who want meaningfulness, a less individualized society and freedom from their own fear of deficiency. Buzzwords such as "peer-to-peer crowdfunding" convey the impression that it is primarily a matter of gradually fulfilling everyone's dreams in a community, and detracts from the fact that the 555 euros are not due to the "power of the community" grow to 19,980 euros, but rather by constantly acquiring new people who consider this an attractive investment.

A sense of community is cultivated in social media and forums, which permanently suggests to the participants that they have arrived in full abundance.

In some cases, reference is also made to Charles Eisenstein and his books and short films on the so-called gift economy, who explicitly distances himself from being appropriated by gift groups of all kinds and emphasizes that they convey the opposite of what he is trying to achieve with his works.

Pyramid system character

With the pyramid system, the majority of the players go away empty-handed: “A few who get in early make a big deal. But the great mass that comes later is losing its money. ”With an eightfold increase in the number of members every three rounds, the number of new members required for each step increases arithmetically as follows (see the mathematical article Potency ):

• ${\displaystyle 8^{0}=1}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{1}=8}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{2}=64}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{3}=512}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{4}=4.096}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{5}=32.768}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{6}=262.144}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{7}=2.097.152}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{8}=16.777.216}$
• ${\displaystyle 8^{9}=134.217.728}$(more than the population of Germany )
• ${\displaystyle 8^{10}=1.073.741.824}$(more than the population of Europe )
• ${\displaystyle 8^{11}=8.589.934.592}$(more than the world population )
• ...

With such a progression, the world population would be exceeded after just a few laps . It is evident that such a system is bound to collapse after just a few steps. On the part of the organizers, this fact is distracted by the fact that usually only one circle is observed in their calculations and the new circles created by the division are disregarded.

Reinvestments by former members do not change this fact. In the first few rounds in particular, it can even be lucrative to go through the system twice, especially since this can shape the myth of an eternal cycle, which telling on makes it easier to acquire new participants.

Legal position

Legal situation in Germany

For a long time, German jurisprudence largely prevented participants in such pyramid schemes from claiming back the amounts paid in. It is true that the recipient cannot invoke a legal basis because pyramid schemes are immoral and therefore void. A repayment claim from § 812 paragraph 1 sentence 1 variant 1 BGB ( performance condition ) was denied because of § 817 sentence 2 BGB. According to this, the repayment is excluded despite the immorality of the underlying legal transaction if the payer is aware of the immorality and he is "knowingly" involved in an immoral legal transaction with the payment (so-called conditional lock ). In a fundamental decision of the Federal Court of Justice of November 10, 2005, it was made clear that in cases of pyramid schemes, reclaiming is always possible, as otherwise the protective purpose of the nullity of pyramid schemes would be contradicted and the initiators of a gift circle system would be encouraged to continue. In legal terms, this is achieved through a teleological reduction of § 817 sentence 2 BGB against the background of § 242 BGB. The Federal Court of Justice adhered to this case law in further decisions of March 13, 2008, November 6, 2008 and June 21, 2012. In addition, in a ruling of November 6, 2008, the BGH has now made it clear that the objective recipient horizon is important in triangular constellations to determine who is performing, which has been confirmed again by a more recent decision.

The lower courts have largely followed this case law. The district court of Cologne and the district court of Mülheim an der Ruhr have a different opinion, at least when an experienced player demands his commitment back. In these cases, you apply § 817 sentence 2 BGB, in which the reclaim is excluded if the supplier is also responsible for such a breach, unless the performance consisted of entering into a liability; what has been done to fulfill such an obligation cannot be reclaimed. The Regional Court of Munich I - as well as the Regional Court of Traunstein  - does not see a repayment claim if a person gives a "player" credit to participate in a donation group, as these are immoral. Such a differentiating view is also required in legal literature. The Federal Court of Justice should only be followed if the giver did not actually see through the game system. The Federal Court of Justice was also heavily criticized by the Siegburg District Court . In its decision of March 13, 2008, the Federal Court of Justice expressly rejected the differentiating approach in favor of a “generalizing” approach that it considered necessary.

Whether or not a gift group is to be regarded as a “game” within the meaning of Section 762 of the German Civil Code (BGB) is currently heavily disputed in case law. This question is decisive for assessing the problem of whether legal expenses insurance companies are obliged to cover the costs of the processes. Only if a “game” is accepted within the meaning of the law is there no obligation to cover the legal expenses insurance, be it for the costs of the “donor” or for the costs of the “donee”.

Legal situation in Austria

In Austria, chain or pyramid games are prohibited and punishable under Section 168a of the Criminal Code. The sentence is six months in prison, or three years for a larger number of seriously injured persons.

Legal situation in Switzerland

In Switzerland, the legal situation with regard to gift groups and pyramid schemes of any kind is clearly regulated and underpinned by several federal court decisions , most recently on March 26, 2006. For example, gift groups fall under the federal law against unfair competition (Art. 3 Para. 1. lit. r UWG) - before 2012 under the Lottery Act - and are therefore prohibited.

The establishment, any kind of participation in the organization of such events and advertising for such events are illegal and therefore punishable.

However, it is not a criminal offense to passively participate in such events, i. H. without participating in the organization in any way, as well as contributing money to such a circle. According to the federal court decision, the performance of a stake as such is to be equated with placing in a lottery and therefore exempt from punishment according to the Lottery Act. This initially caused some confusion, but the Federal Supreme Court clearly stated in several rulings with regard to the offense of fraud, within the meaning of Art. 146 Swiss Criminal Code , that in such a case the person making the payment is not protected under criminal law and is therefore not protected There is a right to reclaim the paid-in money in court. In this regard, the Federal Supreme Court has ruled the following in several cases: "Anyone who could have protected themselves with a minimum amount of attention or could have avoided errors with a minimum of reasonable caution will not be protected under criminal law."

literature

• Bernd Hettlage: Free! Roman, Oktober Verlag, Münster (Westphalia) 2009, ISBN 978-3-938568-87-3 .
• Reinhold Rühl: If you come along, you will get the chance of a lifetime . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 23, 2005
• Heino Reents: Fraudulent money gifts . In: Die Welt , January 22, 2006
• Susanne Hengesbach: Cordiality in euros . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , November 29, 2003
• Sven Recker: Give me my heart back . In: Berliner Zeitung , March 2, 2004
• Elisabeth Schönert: chain letter de luxe. In: Die Welt , November 16, 2003
• Bernd Hettlage: The big giving. In: Berliner Zeitung , January 9, 2010
• Sylvia Cathrin Kefalas: Gift circles in the light of § 817 S. 2 BGB , Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2012, ISBN 978-3-631-62421-0 (dissertation University Erlangen-Nürnberg 2012, 120 pages).

Web links

• Clear representation of the development of participants in gift circles
• Gift groups for Swiss crime prevention
• Example instructions for the esoteric "Fractal Journey 555"

Individual evidence

1. ^ Consumer advice center North Rhine-Westphalia.
2. ↑ Overview of the legal situation .
3. ^ BGH, judgment of November 10, 2005, Az. III ZR 72/05 and 73/05, full text and BGH, press release no. 159/2005 of November 11, 2005.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} BGH, judgment of March 13, 2008, Az. III ZR 282/07, full text .
5. ^ BGH, judgment of November 6, 2008, Az. III ZR 120/08, full text .
6. ↑ ^{a b} BGH, judgment of June 21, 2012, Az. III ZR 291/11, full text .
7. ^ LG Munich I, judgment of March 22, 2007, Az. 10 O 25455/05, brief information .
8. ^ LG Traunstein, decision of July 2, 2008, Az. 6 S 1629/08.
9. ^ Adrian Schmidt-Recla: From snowballs and rotating sicknesses. Comparative considerations on the restitution block of § 817 sentence 2 BGB , JZ 2008, 60-67.
10. ^ AG Siegburg, judgment of March 30, 2007, Az. 118 C 606/06, full text .
11. ↑ ^{a b} BGE 132 IV 76 , offense against the Lottery Act.
12. ↑ FAQ - gift circles are punishable . ( Memento of the original from November 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Informing the Swiss Crime Prevention and Fedpol regarding gift groups. 

Please note the information on legal issues!