Earlier today, I had a conversation with a friend who talked about an online platform currently where the members have to pay about $350 as "Registration Fee". I didn't want to judge quickly and so I asked further what the platform offers, who created it and their long term goals. Well, this was where I knew it was another major scam and cannot last. My friend said this platform gets payment from her users and teach their users how to trade Forex, allow their users Earn incentives from referral if they don't want to trade (where you'll be earning about $100 for every new member you bring in to the platform. Finally, she told me about how many people have been getting paid by the platform and how it's been in existence for months.
Well, as legit as it may sound to some people, this another form of Ponzi scheme. I felt like talking about this because I live in a country where there are no strict laws / policy's on Cyber fraud. So once a platform crashes / comes to an end, another comes up a couple weeks.
Now, many of us have realized the very best platforms out there request little or no charges for registering or membership fee and so those who require a significant amount of money actually do so, because that fee is actually what keeps them running. These platforms begin to show faults when the number of new members are reducing. The crash starts from the inability to pay their members as promised and then they finally crash in a short while after.
Ponzi schemes are quite common in third world countries for so many reasons, firstly because there are no strict laws/ persecution of any of the so called company or owners of online platforms running the scheme. Well, this in my country for example is partly due to the fact that the Constitution guiding the affairs of citizens in the country hasn't been adjusted since 1999 (when there were no cyber crimes). It's really appalling.
Ponzi schemes are also very common because of the high level of poverty in these countries. They promise high returns, stability and financial freedom which are a Holy Grail in these countries. It's always so easy to fall for these scammers when you earn far less than they offer.
Thirdly, it's easy for Ponzi Schemes to thrive in these countries because of their poor financial education and sense of investment. People really have a bad sense of investment and think anything you put in your money is a worthy investment. Schools don't educate their students on Scams, Religious gathers keep shut on scams and even parents act like it's non existent. It's really sad but these are places this matter should be discussed at least once.
Identifying Ponzi scheme and many other scam platforms isn't actually so difficult. These are four sure ways to identify them:
• They offer high returns at fixed dates regardless of market conditions.
• They lay emphasis on how they've been paying for a long time and how they've not encountered issues.
• The real owners are faceless so they don't get in trouble and so they make influencers and marketers the face of their business (this has changed lately because they want the trust of their members).
•There is usually no form of legal agreement between the members and owners of the platform (although this has changed lately because they are desperate to get members/users but still these agreements don't work so well in these countries).
• They come in several forms. Forex Traders, Money Doublers, Referral Programs, Crypto pioneers e.t.c.
As for the platform my friend talked about, the $300 was enacted just so the platform doesn't crash quickly like other predecessors who asked for lower fees. Fact is this platform is still a time bomb. Sooner or later, the platform would end. It's the most obvious thing.
Ponzi schemes will keep thriving in third world countries for a very long time until strict laws are placed on scams and fraudulent businesses. But until then, it's best to educate our friends and relatives about these platforms so they don't get caught in it's thorns.
Thank you for reading.
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I am a self taught and aspiring artist, photographer and blogger who loves to create artworks out of randomness. I love the creativity behind my style and the freedom to create drawings out of imperfections.
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