Police probing “Blessing Circles” alleged Ponzi schemes

Dec 14, 2020 News

Charged, Dwayne Charles.

Charged, Claire Joseph

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Police Force (GPF) has launched an investigation into the alleged “Blessing Circles” Ponzi schemes, in which persons are asked to bring in varying amounts of money for significant returns of up to nine times the ‘invested’ amount.
Just last week, two Lindeners were put before the court in relation to the same alleged Ponzi scheme, and they were slapped with five fraud charges. The accused, Dwayne Charles, 41, called “Uncle Male” of Central Amelia Ward, Linden and 48-year-old Claire Joseph of the same place, appeared at the Linden Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Wanda Fortune.
The charge alleged that Charles and Joseph obtained the total sum of $107, 500, under false pretense from Gavin Munroe, Vernon Richmond, Leslie Jervis, Odetta Hall and Salome Henry. Both defendants denied the charge and the Magistrate placed them on $40,000 bail each, on one of the fraud charge and self-bail for the remaining charges. The matter was then adjourned to January 12, 2021, for report and fixture.
The most popular of such ‘Blessings Circles’, heavily promoted on social media, involves a participant being required to personally invest $21,500, and to additionally recruit two other persons to do the same, with a promise of a payout of $172, 000 within 5-7 days.

A screenshot of an alleged ‘Blessing Circles’ Ponzi scheme advertisement placed on Facebook Marketplace.

The recent crackdown against such schemes follows a major case involving a Cuban national and his wife who are before the court on 80-plus fraud charges. The accused, Yuri Garcia-Dominguez and his wife, Ateeka Ishmael, have also been charged under the anti-money laundering laws in a scheme that involved billions of dollars and about 17,000 alleged victims
According to a source, the GPF has launched an investigation into the smaller ‘Blessings Circles’ and has since arrested a few “admins”, the persons who were in charge of collecting and distributing the money to the persons who invested.
It is reported while some persons received money after investing, most persons did not receive the $172, 000 that was promised and subsequently asked back for their money. No money was returned and this led persons to make official police complaints.
Based on information received, the police yesterday morning arrested an “admin” from a Georgetown-based circle although no official confirmation was made by the GPF up to press time. Kaieteur News was told by one investor in that circle, who had actually received money after investing, that “One of them [admin] get collect by the police this morning [yesterday] and telling me, I gotta repay some $140, 000.”
According to information received, for the past three months, many reports were made to the police concerning “admins” that collected investors’ money and then allegedly disappeared.
“Since September,” an investor told this publication, “I made a report to the police about my admin [name given], but they told me that it’s a private matter and I have to sort that out myself…eventually, I gave up because the ‘admin’ blocked me and I couldn’t reach onto her…and only now they launch investigation.”
Even as the probe is ongoing, persons are still advertising on different social media platforms for persons to invest in the ‘Blessing Circles’.

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