J’CANS HUNT QUICK CASH Persons take chance with new money venture that offers 800% return
Despite the fact that many persons have lost their hard-earned cash in money ventures such as CashPlus and Olint, it appears Jamaicans are still willing to take chances with these types of schemes in the hope of a big payday.
Joe Banks*, a university drop-out, said that he was sceptical when he was first introduced to the concept of the Rags 2 Riches wheel, a cash scheme which pays out thousands of dollars to persons if father luck smile on them.
“Yuh just pay $25,000 and inna two to three weeks, yuh will get $200,000, depending on how quick persons are placed on a wheel,” he said the friend told him.
However, he was soon enticed to pay over the sum of money to the operators of the Rags 2 Riches wheel. Banks told THE WEEKEND STAR that he became sold on the idea of joining a group that consisted of numerous wealth seekers after his friend showed him a wad of cash that he collected as payout.
“Fi couple days well him just call mi phone, but mi did a go roun’ him til him link mi one day and show mi di $200,000 weh him just collect. The next day mi give him the money and dem add mi to a WhatsApp group,” he said.
SHARE OF THE PIE
The way the Rags 2 Riches wheel works is said to be simple. Existing members must entice others to join the group, and once this group grows to 15 members, a predetermined person gets a $200,000 payout. The order in which a person joins determines when they qualify for their draw. The 15-member wheel is then split into two, and new wheels created in order for persons to get their share of the pie.
“Mi join and nuff people weh mi know inna di group. People who have 9-5 jobs, university students, and all people weh unemployed inna it, and dem get dem money once the wheel full out with 15 people,” Banks said. The concept of the Rags 2 Riches wheel is not unique to Jamaica. There is a similar Rags 2 Riches wheel in the United States. There are 15 spots on a wheel that are filled up in the order in which persons join the group. The centre of the wheel is called the birthday spots, which is reserved for the person who will get the next payout. Then two other spots called the co-pilots, followed by four other spots, and then eight spots called baseline. Once all of the spots are filled, the money invested by the persons in the baseline is paid over to the person in the birthday spot. Afterwards, the wheel is split into two, everyone moves up a step and eight persons are recruited for another person to be paid.
“Is a family thing, everybody just help out to mek some money,” said Banks, who joined in May and claims that he has already had two draws of $200,000.
Meanwhile, David Geddes, the communication and international relations manager at the Financial Services Commission (FSC), told THE WEEKEND STAR that there have been several investment schemes like this over the years.
He said that persons should look into investment opportunities that are too good to be true and find out if they are registered entities before handing over their money.
While noting that the groups similar to the one that Banks describes do not fall under the purview of the FSC, Geddes said that persons should consider legitimate avenues of maximising their investments.
“We don’t advise persons to invest in any scheme or arrangement that is not regulated by the FSC and the FSC does not supervise those types of schemes, so they are not legitimate investment mechanisms,” he told THE WEEKEND STAR.