Sherm Mason, identified by domain registration records, launched the "3x9 Millionaire Machine" on September 7th from an Arkansas address, promising affiliates payouts exceeding $435 million. The website itself offered no details about its operator, a common tactic in such schemes.

Mason has a history with similar online ventures. His first known operation, Magnetic Builder, appeared in 2012 as a $29.95 pay-to-recruit model. He then briefly vanished from the scene.

February saw Mason resurface with Paradise Payments, a gifting scheme where participants transferred between $2 and $1,000 to each other. That program quickly collapsed.

The year 2015 has proven particularly active for Mason. Before the 3x9 Millionaire Machine, he introduced Magnetic Gratitude in April, a $580 Ponzi. July brought Summer Fun Matrix, a $22 three-tier cycler. Both earlier programs are now defunct, according to public traffic statistics. The 3x9 Millionaire Machine is his fourth launch this year.

The 3x9 Millionaire Machine sells no retail goods or services. Its sole offering is membership itself, marketed by affiliates.

Members purchase matrix positions starting at $3. Each position supposedly includes advertising credits and access to a "Digital Webucation Library" of ebooks. These "products" serve as a veneer for the underlying recruitment structure.

Affiliates buy positions in what the scheme calls a 3x9 matrix, with prices ranging from $3 to $19,683. A participant occupies the top spot. Three positions branch out directly below on level one. Each of those three then splits into three more, creating nine positions on level two. This expansion continues through nine levels, totaling 29,523 available positions.

Commissions are paid when new participants join and purchase positions. Each level operates as an independent queue. Affiliates must purchase a position at each specific level to earn commissions from that level.

Level 1 costs $3, paying $3 per filled position for a total of $9. Level 2 requires a $9 purchase, yielding $9 per position for an $81 total. Level 3 costs $27, paying $27 per position to reach $729. Level 4 costs $81, returning $81 per position for $6,561. Level 5 costs $234, paying $243 per position for $59,049. Level 6 requires $729, paying $729 per position for $531,441. Level 7 costs $2,187, paying $2,187 per position for $4,782,969. Level 8 costs $6,561, yielding $6,561 per position for $43,066,404. The final Level 9 costs $19,683, paying $19,683 per position for a total of $387,420,489.

Filling all nine levels promises an advertised payout of $435,867,752. The initial cost to enter is $3 for one matrix position.

Promoters describe the higher tiers as making participants "stupid, stupid, insanely rich." This claim masks a critical flaw in the system's design.

Despite the "matrix" label, the scheme functions as nine distinct straight-line queues, stacked on one another. A true matrix system would allow spillover to trigger multiple commission payments across various matrices. Here, 100% of each position purchase flows to a single affiliate. No funds remain to pay others whose matrices might theoretically fill simultaneously.

Everyone effectively waits in line. An affiliate buys a position, then waits for enough subsequent purchases to trigger their own payout. The matrix presentation merely enforces the requirement to complete one queue before progressing to the next.

These queues are not individual to each affiliate. They are company-wide. Every participant occupies a spot in the same collective line.

Generating a single $435,867,752 payout would require 145.2 million individual $3 position purchases. This figure applies per payout, per affiliate. Because one person receives 100% of the funds at each level, only the first person in each upper-tier queue ever receives payment. Everyone else continues to wait.

The question of who holds that initial, lucrative position becomes central to the scheme's viability for most participants.

A recent social media comment from an affiliate illustrates the problem: "I joined and already upgrade to lv2. I paid the admin for lv2 upgrade. Then someone on my 2nd lv upgrade also to lv2 and paid admin!!! Something is wrong with the script i think. It seems that we all pay the admin for lv2 upgrade."

The system routes most $3 payments directly to Sherm Mason. He likely preloaded multiple positions into every queue. This guarantees he collects at the upper levels while the vast majority of other participants receive nothing.

To fully pay out even seven positions would demand over a billion dollars in $3 payments. Such a volume of recruitment is unsustainable.

When recruitment inevitably slows, the flow of new $3 purchases ceases. Every queue stalls. Mason then walks away with any funds attached to unpaid positions, in addition to all money already collected by his preloaded positions. The financial model ensures most participants lose their initial investment, while the organizer profits from the influx of new money. The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection offers resources on pyramid scheme recognition and reporting at consumer.ftc.gov.