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Kenyans have been falling prey to the Ponzi schemes only to become quick rich. However, they become the victim of such schemes and lose their hard earned money to these fraud schemes.
There are a number of Ponzi schemes moving worldwide and the people get lured to such ponzi schemes, hence losing their hard earned money. One such incident of fraud has happened in Africa where people have lost more than a million in the scam.
Kenya, a place where most of the people are dealing in cryptocurrency and looking for schemes that attract and promise to double the money, they generally get glued to such schemes. Ultimately, losing their money to these ponzi schemes.
In one of its kind incidents, a journalist from Kenya Waihiga Mwaura reveals about one the cryptocurrency scams, which was running in his name to fleece investors. A doctor connected to the journalist asked if he had interviewed a Kenyan Billionaire about a new Bitcoin product.
By that Mwaura knew that the doctor had fallen to some Ponzi scheme and had become a victim to the two-year old online scam which alleged that along with a local billionaire, Muwara had also endorsed a cryptocurrency trading platform. This is not the first time that the people in Kenya have been lured to such ponzi schemes. They have been duped by the perpetrators since 2007.
Well, despite the best efforts of Mwaura to help the doctor who had fallen to the Ponzi scheme and warning other Kenyans about the scam via his social media platforms, it is believed that the conmen had kept changing web addresses and strategies to target vulnerable Kenyans.
Scope of problem
During the Kenyan elections in 2007, there was a massive surge in the frauds by unlicensed investment schemes. The ministry of Cooperative Affairs in Kenya had established a task force charged with assessing the scope of the problem in the country. This task force in 2008, reported to the ministry describing that 148,784 investors had lost over 8 million Kenyan shillings (USD 78.8 million) in recent times. 270 fraudulent schemes were running during that time.
More scams
Another scam that came into the limelight recently was around the app named Amazon Web Worker Africa. It was an affiliate of Amazon Inc. It was accessible through mobile and web applications. The global retail company did not know about this scam until it came to limelight.
Just a few weeks back, the investors woke up to see that the app is not available on the google play store without any official communication. They have invested thousands of dollars in the scheme which was now inaccessible.
Under the scheme, the person has to refer the app to a friend or family and in turn, he shall be paid for it. One will also be paid for saving money on the app. A percentage of returns as the principal investment remained safe, which was promised by the conmen during the briefing.
However, as the app vanished, hundreds of Kenyan fell prey to the scam and they flooded various social media platforms to express their concerns. Some of them even informed that close friends and family have introduced them to investment opportunities.
However, Kenyan authorities have arrested the culprit behind the scam. She is a 50-year-old American to be involved in what is known as the Amazon Web Worker Scam.
Police have informed them that she was suspected to be part of a syndicate and would be charged with money laundering and cube fraud. She was arrested in Nairobi. Her arrest has given hope of recovering their money.
The investment scams are not new to Kenya but it has grown leaps and bounds in recent times. This is because the rate of unemployment is increasing in the country and people are lured to become quick rich which may lead them to fall prey to such scams.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
