The trending news in the country is the collapse of E-Creator, a ponzi scheme that has been running for the past 3 months. To some the collapse came as a surprise but to followers of the forum—the ponzi collapsed as expected. The scheme collapsed with an estimated US$2 million of investor funds and adds to the growing list of ponzi schemes landing on our shores and leaving a trail of destruction.
How did the latest scheme hoodwink victims?
It was neatly packaged as an empowerment program and in a country with high unemployment, take up was automatic. The scheme had collapsed in April 2023 in Nigeria after running for a few months and this helps explain why analysts had predicted end of June 2023 as the burial day of the ponzi.
The ponzi had strong backing unlike the previous ones and included the public media giving ample space to the scammers. In a country where public media still enjoys considerable confidence—some were regrettably ensnared by the adverts.
Endorsements from public figures such as Madam Boss added trust weights and It remains to be seen whether there is going to be a public apology from institutions that supported the ponzi.
Despite warnings, and even a couple of articles on the forum including a shorthand book on awareness-Zimbabweans still forged ahead and invested funds in the hope of fast returns. It’s now all tears as some had invested huge sums of funds with reality now settling in that indeed they had trusted scammers with hard earned dollars.
From MMM, Beven Capital, and now E-Creator—the list keeps extending and it’s a matter of time before another ponzi scheme emerges.
Therefore the question is have Zimbabweans learnt the hard way? Is this the end of ponzi schemes in the country? We don’t think so—there is a huge market for ponzi schemes. Economic conditions will push for the speedy introduction of another ponzi scheme and the next could come as early as November targeting the festive season.
Most of the ponzi schemes are imports—copy and pasted from West Africa or from South Africa. Only a few such as Beven Capital was structured from Zimbabwe.
Just how ponzi masters manage to register companies, open offices, advertise on National TV and Newspapers and then disappear without trace is mind boggling.
