IN SHORT: Facebook users looking to invest their money should stay away from these six pages claiming to offer investment opportunities. They use the name of Crowd One, a well-known investment scam.
The Facebook pages Crowd One, Crowd one, Crowd one investment LTD, Crowd one company, Crowd one global investment and Crowd one appear to offer investment opportunities to NIgerians.
The pages have one thing in common: they use the name of Crowd One, also spelt Crowd 1, a well-known investment scam.
One of the posts on the Crowd One page, dated 13 October 2023, reads: “CROWD 1 INVESTMENT is a multi-level MKT company that is Paying constantly. It was just newly launched in Nigeria With mama Gee for General live at CROWD 1.”
The post invites users to send a direct message to the page or follow the attached WhatsApp link. It also features videos of testimonials from people who claim to have benefited from the investment platform.
Similar posts from the pages can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But are the pages and the investment platform they advertise legit? We checked.
Suspicious Facebook pages
According to their page transparency sections, the Facebook pages were created in 2022 and 2023.
Considering that these Facebook pages are supposed to represent a business serving millions of customers, it seems odd that they have few followers and little activity on their timelines.
Their posts are also poorly written, a sign that they’re not run by a professional company.
Three of the pages don’t have an email address, while the other three use Gmail accounts. None of them link to a website. Credible companies usually have functioning websites and professional email addresses.
Crowd One, a Ponzi scheme
On 2 November 2020, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) investigated Crowd One, alleging that the platform was targeting Africans.
The BBC investigation revealed that the platform was a Ponzi scheme set up by the Swedish Jonas Eric Werner. A Ponzi scheme is a type of an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors.
Dubawa, a fact-checking organisation based in Nigeria, have also investigated the resurgence of the Crowd One platform and concluded that it is not to be trusted.
Victims of Crowd One
Many victims of Crowd One have come forward since 2020. Nigeria’s financial crime commission has also warned the public against investing in suspicious platforms.
The warning reads, in part: “Nigerians are by this notice, warned to be wary of fraudulent schemes and are hereby enjoined to resist the temptation of quick gain that could end in misery.”
Unfortunately, some users have fallen for investment scams, so fact-checking helps prevent more people from falling victim.
Read our guide on Facebook scams and how to spot them here.
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