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Better Business Bureau warns of holiday pyramid scheme

FILE: A Christmas gift. The Canadian Press Images

The Better Business Bureau is warning people using social media to be careful of a holiday pyramid scheme.

In the pyramid scheme, one person asks for a $10 gift, like a bottle of cheap wine, and says the sender could receive as many as 36 gifts in return.

Spokesperson Evan Kelly said, “We see it raise its head here and there throughout the year. We haven’t seen a lot of the wine one this year, thankfully. It’s one of those things where it could just take the form of anything. It doesn’t really matter what you’re trading or giving.”

Kelly said it’s pretty easy for people to get caught up in it at this time of year.

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“It has that sort of feel-good thing to it. If you’re buying a bottle of wine or spending $10 or $15, you’re not losing a whole lot. So I think people aren’t really thinking of the risks or the illegal element of it, if you will,” said Kelly.

The scheme started in 2015, and generally targets millennials.

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