Several Barbadians have again lost thousands of dollars to what some are calling another Ponzi/pyramid scheme.
Creative Alliance Caribbean, which had a similar business model to the ill-fated TKY Media Ponzi scheme which crashed last November, followed a similar fate this week, crashing out and leaving hundreds of Barbadians in the dark.
According to sources, the scheme, which flew under the radar even when TKY’s downfall was making headlines, continued to attract attention from unfazed Barbadians, some of whom were even victims of the TKY scheme.
Well-known block chain consultant Hallam Hope, who participated in Creative Alliance, told the Weekend Nation that the online system “went dark” on Tuesday, thereby blocking Barbadians from signing on.
“People were supposed to basically watch short video clips, an x amount, per day. At first it was three, then it went to five and then it went to about ten. The numbers started to increase in recent times, but initially it was just three videos and you would earn US$10 per day. Everything worked fine,” he explained.
“These videos were very short, a matter of seconds, less than a minute for sure. So it was easy money. There were times when some of the withdrawals were slow, but they did arrive,” Hope said, adding that people who joined Creative Alliance when it first launched in Barbados early last year “made some reasonable profits”.
He said people could either join individually or invite friends and family onto their timelines.
International firm
The participant described Creative Alliance as an international firm that came up around the same time last year as TKY.
“It claimed it had over 30 contracts with companies such as YouTube and TikTok, companies which provide content. People were invited to sign up under somebody or individually and they were to invest money at different levels,” Hope added.
Creative Alliance also became known when a video surfaced showing a Government minister speaking positively about the investment scheme at a summer camp which it assisted in sponsoring.
Of its crash this week, the participant said: “Those who got in late on Tuesday/Wednesday would have found out that their investment would have been at severe risk because the window was then closing, unknown to them.”
He added: “There were a lot of promises. There were claims that some
individuals had said a lot of negative and untrue things about Creative Alliance.”
Sources said the investors were never told who were the principals behind the scheme.
Team leaders unreachable
“There were team leaders who would interact with us. We had a few in-person meetings but when the crash happened, none of the team leaders could be reached.”
The company was said to have had operations in St Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, The Bahamas and other Caribbean states, all of which also folded this week. Collectively, it was said to have attracted over 50 000 people from the region.
Reports indicate that it has caused an uproar in St Vincent, with several citizens lamenting that they lost thousands of dollars.
Commenting on a social media post about Creative Alliance, several Vincentians revealed that they had borrowed thousands of dollars to invest in the scheme. One woman said she borrowed $10 000 from a bank to invest and she had yet to see any returns.
“We have been tricked into this Ponzi scheme,” a woman cried, adding that red flags began in the first week of March when people began having withdrawal issues and were promised by Creative Alliance that they would be resolved.
A Vincentian, who carried out investigations into the company, said the United Kingdom government had removed it from the companies register and the company was dissolved for failing to file financial accounts.
Barbadians have been repeatedly warned about getting involved in such investment schemes, with Governor of the Central Bank Dr Kevin Greenidge advising them to “avoid them”.
He said last year during a press conference: “The overarching thing is, there are no get-rich schemes around the place. Usually the persons who are purporting get-rich schemes are using them to get rich. You are not getting rich, I can guarantee that.”
Economist Jeremy Stephen also warned about the dangers of these schemes. He called for the operators to face stiff penalties, including jail time, as he charged that pyramid schemes were illegal under the Consumer Protection Act. (MB)
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