Guard your money jealously
Batswana continue to be ripped off by promoters of fraudulent investment schemes that promise high returns that even banks or the stock exchange can’t match. This is despite warnings from competent regulators of products such as collective investment undertakings, who include the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority, Botswana Stock Exchange, and Competition and Consumer Authority.
The last few days have been painful for several Batswana who invested their money in one such scheme by the name of Ecoplexus. Those who decided to ‘try their luck’ by putting their hard-earned monies into the ‘get-rich-quick scheme’ were left with eggs on their faces following disappointing news that the Ponzi scheme had collapsed.
As seen from mainstream and social media commentaries, it is easy to blame and come out judgmental on those who blindly decided to buy into promises that Ecoplexus was selling. However, at the end of the day, looking at the number of people who decided to take part in the scheme, it goes back to issues of lack of financial literacy amongst many Batswana.
The lure of becoming rich overnight can cloud many people’s judgements. On the surface, the promises would entice anyone, but as the wise always say; you have to scrutinise everything, especially those promises that seem too good to be true. Testimonials from those who decided to join show that if for example, you invested P3,000, you were promised to earn P110 each day. Wow! P110 multiplied by 30 days would come up to P3,300. Wouldn’t that be a bargain? Such promises show just how most of us lack financial literacy and also the desperation we have to get rich without lifting a finger. There have been numerous shows on national television trying to warn people about such issues, but we suppose it’s either the shows don’t reach the intended audiences or people choose to ignore the intended messaging. South African show, Carte Blanche has featured several shows on these issues and locally Consumer Watchdog has also tried to warn and educate Batswana on such matters. Some people often say you cannot get rich if you don’t take risks, that may in a way be true, but it does not in any way mean one should give their money to scammers without batting an eyelid. It is important for all to grow wealth, but that takes a lot of hard work and rigorous research to come up with the best investment portfolio that best suits you. There are different types of investments that one can choose from, for example, mutual fund investments, stocks, bonds, fixed deposits, and retirement deposits just to mention a few, but it some of these take a bit of time for an individual to enjoy the fruits.
Unfortunately, scammers seem to have studied our habits, and they are using that information against us. Most people if not all people dream of being rich, some often say they just desire to be comfortable, whatever that means. In recent times Ponzi schemes have been growing in numbers, such that it has become extremely hard to keep up with all of them. The mode of operation for these schemes is to use payments collected from new investors to pay off the earlier investors and when new investors and few, the investment fraud collapses. Sadly, many have been falling for such schemes to the point that some have lost their retirement earnings. It is high time we follow advice from regulators to scrutinise these products and know about the risks and returns. It doesn’t hurt to ask investment professionals if one is not sure of what getting themselves into.