CRYPTO CURRENCY COMES TO NORTHERN UGANDA AMID WARNINGS OF PONZI FRAUDSTERS BY CENTRAL BANK

Charles Ponzi swindler

Black & White portrait of infamous swindler Charles Ponzi (1882-1049)

“D9Clube is no longer in business. There is however a new company called Bit coin. A friend in Kampala has joined the new Bit coin investment opportunity. You only need about 4.8 million Uganda shillings (about US$ 1300 dollars). It would be good if you join it too”

‘Whoever wishes to invest their hard earned savings in crypto currency forms is taking a risk in the financial space where there is neither investor protection nor regulatory purview’.

“You can see that the value of each coin has been appreciating so much before we officially offer it to the public on October 8, 2018. By that time each coin will go for shs400000 Uganda shillings (about US$ 110 dollars). You should learn today and lead tomorrow. Invest in time, people and technology. MTN earns over 6 billion Uganda shillings (about US$1.7milion dollars each time the over 14 million customers by airtime or shs500 shillings. We are going to move this life using digits”

GULU-UGANDA: In 2016, one of the promoters of the D9Clube, Mr. Kawoya Adrian came to Gulu and conducted a one day seminar in one of the hotels in town on how one can mint millions of shillings if one invests just UGX 4 million shillings (about US $1100 dollars).

The founder of D9Clube, which is actually a Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) company, is a Brazilian called Mr. Danilo Santana. He was reported to have been arrested in Dubai this year (2018) after a six-month hunt in an operation code-named; “Operation Giza”. At that time he had accumulated US$642 million dollars in his Ponzi scheme.

A Ponzi scheme is named after the infamous swindler of the nineteenth century Italian, Charles Ponzi, (March 3, 1882-January 18, 1949). He paid out returns with other investors’ money-a highly profitable and expansive investment scheme. He was arrested on August 12, 1920 and charged with 86 counts of mail fraud.

It is a fraudulent scam promising to pay high rates of return with little risk to investors. Ponzi scheme generates returns for older investors by acquiring new investors. It is similar to a pyramid scheme in that both are based on using new investors’ funds to pay earlier backers.

As it turned out, one of the clients who was a victim to this scheme is Ms. Adong Sarah Komagum who confirms that she is no longer an investor to D9Clube Ponzi scheme.

“D9Clube is no longer in business. There is however a new company called Bit Coin. A friend in Kampala has joined the new Bit coin investment opportunity. You only need about shs4.8 million Uganda shillings (about US$ 1300 dollars). It would be good if you join it too”, says Mr. Okot Patrick, an IT specialist at Gulu University.

Bit coin was launched in Uganda around 2010 but became commonly known in 2017 after one Bit coin hit shs67 million Uganda shillings (about US$18600 dollars).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director, Ms. Christine Lagarde says ‘taking risk is not watching because new technologies are lowering costs of doing businesses’. She made this remarks while speaking on Bit coin and the future of money.

She acknowledges that that are some Ponzi businesses like D9Clube; but there are also some genuine companies doing crypto currency businesses.

According to Bank of Uganda, there are several crypto currency companies like; Bit coin, One Coin, Ripple, Peer coin, Name coin, Doge coin, Life coin, Byte coin, Prime coin and Black coin. The bank warned Ugandans that ‘whoever wishes to invest their hard earned savings in crypto currency forms is taking a risk in the financial space where there is neither investor protection nor regulatory purview’.

On Saturday, August 4, 2018, a promoter of One-Coin crypto currency, Mr. Natala Joel came to Gulu to sell his product to potential investors.

According to him, the Founder of One Coin is Dr. Ruje Ignatova who has 120 billion coins which was put up for grabs in 2014. It came to Uganda in 2015, where each coin was sold for shs2000 Uganda shillings (about US$0.6 dollars). It has been appreciating to shs63800 Uganda shillings (about US$18 dollars) per coin in 2017.

“You can see that the value of each coin has been appreciating so much before we officially offer it to the public on October 8, 2018. By that time each coin will go for shs400000 Uganda shillings (about US$ 110 dollars). You should learn today and lead tomorrow. Invest in time, people and technology. MTN earns over shs6 billion Uganda shillings (about US$1.7milion dollars) each time the over 14 million customers by airtime of shs500 shillings. We are going to move this life using digits”, says Mr. Natala.

Seventy-three year old Ambassador David Mwaka, a self-confessed investor in One Coin says he has decided to invest in this new business opportunity because they are ‘genuine’ and has an office unlike others which are briefcase crypto currencies.

“This company is too good. We have had very many conmen going around the world. I went up top their office on Lumumba Avenue in Kampala and they gave me a certificate to acknowledge my investment”, says Ambassador Mwaka.

According to Mr. Natala, an investor in One Coin will undergo a free course on crypto currency which is being offered by Oxford University.

As the IMF boss says ‘taking risk is not watching’, investment in crypto currency does not need one to stay long in the game in order to realise returns.

 

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