The Voice - Consumer's Voice

Dear Consumer’s Voice #1

Please check if eccpub.com foreign exchange traders are genuine. A friend of mine wants to invest money with them because some people had “for several years made big profits” by investing with them. From what he tells me, one deposits at least P10,000 so they can trade in forex for the client. After some period (six months or so) of trade they remit the client the profit realized.

I suspect they are not genuine as they are not registered in Botswana as a bank or bureau de change. Moreover, they might be an international scam syndicate.

The web site you mention is just the new web site of EurexTrade, the company I’ve mentioned many times before. This is almost certainly a Ponzi scheme, where the “investments” people make to trade in foreign exchange are actually used to pay the earlier generation of people who “invested”. In fact it’s unlikely that ANY of the money they take is invested in foreign exchange at all.

The evidence for this is simple. They claim on their web site that you can make “up to 2.9% daily” profit with them. That’s simply impossible. Nearly 3% every day? No investment scheme in the history of the world has delivered that sort of return over any significant period, certainly not by trading foreign exchange. If this really did work don’t you think that banks, genuine investment companies and the Government of Greece would be doing so?

There are more and more signs that this company is going to fail soon, as all Ponzi schemes eventually do, when they run out of potential victims so I beg you not to join and to help prevent everyone you know from joining. If you’re in already do your very best to get out now before you lose everything!

Dear Consumer’s Voice #2

[This email came in two parts.]

[Part 1] Recently, I heard grannys were send over P3,000 to Russia thru Western Union. After some time they will keep on getting interest, not that any of them has actually got it, though some are saying someone got the interest. And also they believe they are banking their monies out of the country. My first instinct was this is a scam or a pyramid scheme. If you could help because most oldies in the village are affected.

[Part 2] I didn’t have all facts, but now I do. Its a company claiming 2 be investing peoples money and its making rounds around the elite in Gaborone. Their website, www.eccpub.com promises high profits for money invested. I checked their website, to an ordinary person it looks real, but when you check the contacts, there are Batswana, some are Batswana we know, and we know where they work. The company is based in Panama so I don’t get why money has to be sent to Russia.

The only reason I’m doing this is to warn Batswana that there is no sweet without sweat! You have to work hard to get returns.

People have invested a lot in this bogus scheme and are still waiting to get their interest plus there is a likelihood they won’t get the original money they invested. They should ignore the emails of these get rich quick schemes.

You deserve credit for your community spirit and also for your detective skills!

Yes, it’s another report about EurexTrade who now operate from the eccpub.com web site. I also am mystified why they would want money wired to them in Russia, it’s yet another reason to view them as VERY suspicious. I also took a look at their web site and it’s very interesting. 53 different contacts are given and 12 of them are for Botswana alone. What’s more, the contacts for South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe all have Botswana cellphone numbers. 21 of the 53 contacts appear to be here in Botswana yet only one contact covers all of the USA, UK and India.

Why so many here? Is it because we’re more gullible than the rest of the world? Is it because we’re greedier? Is it because this particular scheme is focused specifically on us? Or is it even perhaps because we’re behind it?

Whatever the reason, I think this indicates that as you say, many of our friends, family and neighbors and throwing away their money in a scheme that we all know will collapse sooner or later. Hopefully enough people will realize before it’s too late.