By Crowd 1 Leaves Thousands In Poverty
Crowd1 a global pyramid scam that has been describing itself as “the fastest-growing crowd marketing company in the world” has left thousands of poor Africans lamenting after suffering a big loss. This was nothing more than a get-rich-quick scheme that was bound to leave many in debt and tears.
With economic hardships worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the operation continued to attract those eager to make a quick buck.
A new investigation by BBC Africa Eye has discovered that the pyramid run from Europe that has been using smartphones to cheat ordinary people across Africa, Asia, and Latin America is a scam. BBC Africa Eye reveals that, behind the slick marketing, Crowd1 is peddling a range of bogus products and false promises to cover an old-fashioned pyramid scheme based on recruitment.
Crowd 1 Leaves Thousands In Poverty. Photo Courtesy
The BBC documentary includes shocking testimony from a woman in South Africa who spent her entire life savings on Crowd1 in the belief that she was buying “shares” in a business that would pay out a “salary.”
“My heart is broken,” she told the BBC, “because I wasted all my money that I could have used to buy a house. Now I am living in a shack, with no money. I don’t have an income or a business. I’m just in disbelief and I am ashamed.”
Africa Eye also spoke to Samtos, a young man in Lagos, Nigeria, who says that, when the Covid19 lockdown hit Nigeria, he was concerned about how to earn an income and was “sweet-talked” into joining Crowd1 by a friend. Samtos told the BBC that the scammers are in Europe “enjoying everything they are gathering from poor people.
Even with complaints from individuals who have lost more than money, little is done by governments whose financial institutions can curtail the damage down by these online scams. A few countries have put up warnings to their citizens against getting themselves entangled in such schemes.
Fewer, like Burundi have banned Crowd 1 from operating within their jurisdictions. Many more governments continue to look on as their citizens get carried away by the faux glitz and glamour that accompanies these schemes
The scheme has been producing social media videos that show members buying new cars and enjoying luxury holidays.
Courtesy. BBC Africa Eye
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