People all over the world, and South Africans are no exception, are bewitched and fascinated by any idea or scheme promising, in most cases, instant wealth, new homes, new cars, holidays abroad and all material possessions that can be acquired with an abundance of money. A further attraction of these schemes is the perception that the money will keep rolling in with little or no effort by the participants, the hardest part being to count one's money.

A consumer who participates in these "easy money making" schemes apparently believes that money, and lots of it, is there for the taking, without considering where this money comes from. Many consumers are handsomely rewarded by participating in these schemes. Unfortunately there are many more consumers who lose their money. The total amount gained by the promoters and other participants of these "easy money making" schemes is usually equal to the amount lost by the other participants. Participants come from all walks of life.

Many of these schemes, commonly called "pyramids", have mushroomed in South Africa during the last two years. Pyramids create a dilemma for authorities. While a scheme is operating there are people, who are making money out of it. This apparent success is always visible to new entrants. Should the authorities step in and stop the scheme to prevent still more people from losing money, the authorities are accused of being paternalistic, unconstitutional, interfering with the consumers' freedom of choice, ignorance, bias and many more. When the authorities do not intervene and the scheme grinds to a stop, as all these schemes inevitably do, the Outcry is "... why did the authorities not intervene?" The Business Practices Committee (the Committee) investigated a number of these schemes on a preliminary and a formal basis.