In 1998 Albania suffered a national crisis brought on by the collapse of fraudulent investment schemes. Westerners wise in the ways of the market were bemused by the naivete of the Albanians who fell for "investment" schemes promising returns as high as 25 percent a month with no real business activity behind them. Using the classic pyramid scam, the perpetrators used money from new investors to pay the promised returns to earlier investors. The result was a national speculative frenzy. Farmers sold their flocks and urban dwellers their apartments to share in the promised bonanza of effortless wealth. The inevitable collapse sparked widespread riots, arson, and looting when the Albanian government failed to make up the losses.