American pyramid scheme makes inroads into Zimbabwe

AMERICAN empowerment-based membership programme iRaisers International has entered the Zimbabwean market, the latest pyramid scheme in a slew of money-making initiatives that are finding more and more takers.

The entry of these schemes is on the back of a deteriorating economic environment, which has seen Zimbabweans clinging onto anything for survival.

As such, different money making schemes have popped up in the last three months with iRaiser International recently joining the list.

iRaisers International operations have been low key and they estimate their local membership to be close to 1 000 and still growing.

iRaisers International is a member of the International and National Investment Fund Group and Germany Angel Investment Association. The company is headquartered in Georgia, United States. In Africa, they have so far set up shop in Ghana.

On their website, iRaisers said it was created solely out of the passion to raise everyone without exception and to help people achieve a better life with financial freedom.

"The level of poverty resulting from lack of employment, poor housing, inadequate health care provisions, dearth of essential infrastructure such as roads, electricity, that could induce investments that would create job opportunities," it said.

iRaisers requires an individual to refer three members and encourage them to repeat the same after which they watch their team grow as they would have set up the initial stage.

"Recruiting more gives you access to make additional income from referral commissions and fill up your network quickly to speed-up your level and board bonus accompanied with incentives," iRaisers said.

"A one-time non-refundable membership fee of $16 will change your entire life and bank balance. Must be referred and sponsored by an existing member."

All the earnings from the referrals go to the individual's "e-wallet account" held with iRaisers and must link it to either their bank account or mobile money account to access the money.

According to Edward Foli, who manages a group from Ghana, the multi-level scheme has three level commissions in board and five level commissions in boards two to four.

This means an individual earns from down line whenever they register a new member under them.

"You can have unlimited referrals at any level without limit," Foli said.

"Your investment will be recovered even if you don't have any direct referral. It is only one time hard work that will give you money every day or even every five minutes."

All the payments are instant, allowing members to withdraw as many times as they want.

The commission plan works as a 3×3 matrix marketing system, where every member is required to refer three members each, after which every additional signup will cause a spill-over, making the matrix fill faster and adding more income.

"With our innovative marketing plan members earn in five different boards and as you progress from board to board, you earn and get life-changing incentives including a projector, iPad, laptop, desktop, car, duplex house and paid trips," Foli said.

After the initial entry fee, a sponsorship bonus of 25% is paid to members who refer any registered member.

This commission plan consists of five boards, namely bronze, silver, gold, diamond and director.

If individuals reach the diamond board and complete all the levels, they can earn up to $3 million.

iRaiser's entry comes after thousands of Zimbabweans lost their money following the collapse of pyramid scheme, MMM Global.

Another scheme is Earning Members Community (EMC) that was created as a donation-driven pyramid scheme.

EMC is a two-stage programme with its main theme being "give to be given".

Standardbusiness found the two people advertising this scheme to be a Nestor and Jack, locals who keep their last names private.

To become a member in EMC, an individual must pay a once off donation of $7 to a member allocated to them after being registered.

After an individual is registered, they are allocated two members who donate to them $7 each resulting in the person being upgraded to stage 2.

At stage 2, the individual must pay a $10 fee from the two members that donated to them at stage 1.

EcoCash is the main payment system.

Uptake for EMC has proven very slow due to the level of secrecy associated with it. It has close to 100 members.

The central bank has in the past warned the public against participating in illicit financial schemes for fear of being duped. The warning could be falling on deaf ears as a number of money-making "ventures" are sprouting up on a daily basis to cash in on the deteriorating economic environment where the get-rich-quickly syndrome becomes an alternative.

Other money-making schemes to have popped up globally include BitCycler Money Maker and Passive Income Pros.

Bit Cycler is a pyramid scheme that uses bitcoin and works by having three independent cyclers where members can purchase positions at $20, $50 or $100 with a return of 130%, 135%, and 140% respectively.

Bitcoin is a crypto currency and a payment system introduced in October 2008 and released as open-source software in 2009.

BitCycler is based in Sweden.

"Members can purchase as many positions as they wish. The more positions they buy, the greater their profit will be. There is no need to refer to profit from the cyclers, but we have big bonuses for team builders," BitCycler said.

All members get 10% from the purchases and repurchases of all their direct referrals.

Referring 10 individuals allows a member to become a "manager" where they start earning at four managerial levels. Earnings at the first level are at 5% return, second level (3%), third level (2%) and fourth level (1%).