There’s a popular quote by the wall street trading legend Warren Buffet which says that “when others are greedy, we have to be fearful, and when others are fearful we have to be greedy.” Africans have to be fearful of these over-promising financial schemes.
What Africans Should know
In recent years, Africans have been inundated with different crypto-currency Ponzi and pyramid schemes that promise to make them millionaires overnight.
Remember that when anything is too good to be true, it probably is!
Two years ago, a friend told me about a “lucrative” crypto scheme that was making news and creating new millionaires in Africa. She sounded very excited and invited me to join the league, which I cautiously turned down. Two years later, she’s still broke and continuously borrowing cash from everyone or institution willing to loan her money.
How come this money printing scheme didn’t make her rich overnight as expected? Moreover, she has since moved on to another scheme which equally promises mouth watering returns.
I didn’t turn down the invitation to join the scheme because I wasn’t keen on making money, but rather because I was being fearful whilst others choose to be greedy. Moreover, the project-offering made absolutely no sense to me.
Most people who get proposed these schemes know deep down that there’s something surreal about them, but greed and the fear of missing out(FOMO) overwhelms their judgement.
How can anyone promise to double my money irrespective of the micro and macroeconomic factors that often impact all businesses, affecting their ability to make profits?
Why people fall into crypto scams
When you look deeply into the stories of people who have been sucked into these Ponzi schemes, they have the following things in common;
- They don’t understand the world of investing. How can anyone believe some of the returns claimed by these companies ?
- Most times, they don’t have any knowledge of the crypto ecosystem. The crypto market is too complex and cannot be as simplified as most scam schemes suggest. I recommend for you read this article on About Cryptocurrencies! to learn more about the crypto ecosystem.
- They are too lazy to set time aside to do some basic research. Folks are in a hurry to jump into get rich initiatives without any form of due diligence.
- Confidence and self esteem is far from being their virtue. They believe everything people tell them, rather than listening to their own gut feeling or using their sense of judgement.
- They are too greedy and eager to make quick and easy money. Nothing good in life comes easy, and as my late dad always told me “hurry hurry di broke trouser.”
The biggest crypto scam in Africa
I am of the opinion that the next big financial chaos is currently brewing in Africa, and a timed bomb is waiting to explode.
Africans are falling for the overnight riches promised by the crypto pyramid and Ponzi schemes, with very little caution taken.
A young friend of mine told me how he got caught up in a hot mess related to cryptocurrencies. He was swayed into collecting money from his friends and family to invest in the scheme, with the promise of big gains.
Everything seemed good until all of their money disappeared in a single transaction. Everyone then turned to him for their money, and for fear of his life, he fled his city of residence in Limbe Cameroon when things went burst.
In order to better understand how you could fall for a crypto scam, please watch this YouTube video.
A few days ago, I got contacted by a young lady a few days ago who had received the messages in figure 1 and 2, from a friend who was trying to recruit her into a scheme.
I promised to write an article about it, and here we are! Please listen to my podcast below which attempts to break down the red flags in the investment scheme below, currently being sold on a mass scale to unsuspecting Africans.
Conclusion
Its no doubt that cryptocurrencies are the “happening thing” today, and the fear of missing out has taken a grip of most people. However, there are legitimate ways of going about trading cryptos and before handing over your hard-earned money to anyone, please perform your due diligence.
Crypto scams are spreading like wildfire in Africa and we all have to be on alert. The fact that people are struggling financially and unexposed to critical information like this article makes them very vulnerable to these predators.
And to make matters worse, the entire crypto ecosystem remains unregulated and in the event of a scam, authorities have been known to distance themselves from any form of intervention or prosecution.
