guaranteed 10%/month with little risk?

[Paul Altman <paulha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Did you guys know that it's easy to make a guaranteed 10% a month, with 
little risk?   So claims an investor I met while travelling last week.   If 
only we stupid investors/traders would take off our blinders, we'd learn 
"the secrets" that only "the rich" know about....that offshore investing 
offers returns unheard of here in the US, and that it's common for the rich 
to give dough to secretive "investment clubs" that "guarantee" (with a 
note) this type of return/risk, while refusing to reveal much of anything 
about their investment style/practices.   If you were to ask for more 
details from one of these clubs, you might be brushed off with something 
like "sophisticated investors know that international banking and trading 
require an enormous level of discretion and non-disclosure".   Supposedly, 
people are willing to accept nonsense answers like this because they have 
friends who have been receiving the 10%/month for some time.   It's 
obviously a word-of-mouth business.

Don't take my word for it....here's a link to one of these "clubs".

http://www.triwestinvest.com/

Can some of you more experienced guys tell me what the deal is with this 
type of "investment"?    It's easy enough for us to speculate that it's 
some type of Ponzi scheme, but is anyone actually familiar with this flavor 
of "investment"?   Strangely, supposedly some of these have been going on 
for at least a few years.

Is this a familiar scam to any of you?   What are the mechanics of the 
scam?  Where does the dough come from?  (Also, note on the Triwest site 
that it seems to be a pyramid scheme where you can get rich by referring 
others.)    Or is anyone actually going to have the nerve to claim that 
it's true:   "Sophisticated investors know to ignore the popular myths 
about risk being commensurate with return, and instead go offshore to black 
box firms that reliably return 10%/month."

An interesting note:   Some of these "clubs" have a connection or following 
among new age types _and_ hard-core US patriots, the type of folks who 
converse about the mechanics of "legitimately" refusing to pay the IRS, are 
survivalists, carry guns, etc.

Plus, at least some of the salesmen are well-anchored in their 
community.  The person I s/w has lived, rather visibly, in the same town 
for 30 years.  I.e., it will be difficult for them to simply disappear if 
and when the time comes for the "club" to sour.

Any comments, guys?

       Paul