Crowd1- Another Bursted Pyramid Scheme

Crowd1, a Swedish online cryptocurrency Investment company, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. In this piece, we examine this company to find out if its operations are legit or a scam.

Crowd1- The Swedish Bitters of an Investment

At the time of writing this, the company would have been more than fifty thousand naira richer because another victim must have lost their hard-earned money to these scammers.

What started out like a good day became sour for Mike, a real estate investor cum actor who decided to part with a whopping fifty thousand naira in what seemed like a harmless but profitable investment.

Crowd1 is an online cryptocurrency investment company founded by Jonas Eric Werner.

A look at his profile suggests he is a well-rounded and successful businessman with interests in many industries and businesses.

A history rife with digging his crooked hands in the cookie jars of honest “investors”, Jonas has been linked to Sitetalk OPN, bought over by OneCoin, responsible for selling fake cryptocurrency.

Further digging as to who the man Jonas is suggests that he has been involved in many of such get-rich-or-sh*t schemes by this suave multi-level marketing “guru”.

His company, CROWD1 based in his country of birth, Sweden, has been the subject of many investigations after many clients, to the tune of 30 million large, have been fleeced of copious amounts of money.

To protect their citizens from the nefarious activities of this company, Governments of Countries like Paraguay, New Zealand, The Philippines, New Zealand, Burundi, Namibia, Gabon, Vietnam, and Ivory Coast have subsequently banned the activities of the investment firm whose mode of operations suggests a vicariously imagined get-rich-quick miasma, or more figuratively expressed, a Pyramid scheme!

With growing discontent over the company’s malfeasance, Jonas moved shop to even more vulnerable countries with a higher prevalence of poverty, making Nigeria and India their new golden goose.

Nigeria, with a growing population of over 200 million citizens, a high unemployment rate estimated to be in the range of 30 percent, in addition to a hybrid democratic regime whose economic policies have been total woes and chaos for its hapless citizenry.

Crowd1, led by Johal, and its snake oil salesman, Renze, saw the prospect of making Africa’s most populated country its oyster.

Its entry into the Nigerian market has left in its wake a trail of lost savings and failed dreams of acquiring enough monies by their "investors,” who were promised a life of riches and a compendium of gold glitters, bestowing on these unfortunate victims an indelible scar on their psyche and a fait accompli that beguiles them till date.

Their Modus Operandi

Jonas, being a smooth talker with a finesse that could easily deceive onlookers, works with the duo of Johal Stael Von Holstein, a “Techpreneur” and poster boy of the scheme; he also doubles as the CEO (though he roundly denies this designation), and Renze Deelstra, who, from my findings, fronts as the “salesman” selling fake dreams of a lifetime of riches to their unsuspecting victims.

They clearly target the most vulnerable members of society and those with zero or no knowledge of what growing sustainable and profitable investments is all about.

In their roaster of investors, you will find retired civil servants, young school leavers, middle-aged artisans who are saving up for their retirements, and even professionals and those with a college degree like our subject, Mike, all being caught in their web of deceit and sophisticated financial sophistry.

Mike’s Experience

Mike, though experienced with the requisite investment education, couldn’t still fathom how he was led like a lamb to Crowd1’s slaughter, resulting in losing a staggering fifty thousand, which is a sizeable amount in today’s Nigeria where citizens are struggling to feed and pay sundry bills.

To further accentuate the putrid stench coming out of the stables of the investment company, Mike sent us a screenshot of the conversation he had with his recruiter, or in MLM parlance, “UPLINE”.

Below is a screenshot of the WhatsApp text exchanges between Mike and the recruiter, a certain Mr. Emmanuel.

The first screenshot is Mike responding to an aggressive Facebook advertising campaign:

The conversation continues below.

Now, the above information is the “hook” they exploit to win over their leads: “Pay 10 to get a double of 10, which is 20”.

The whole story seems so incredulous, using the timeless scamming technique of pay one and get two, Mike decides to go on with the idea of investing since registration is entirely free.

He provides the information Mr. Emmanuel requires of him in furtherance of the investment plan.

With a seamless and free registration completed, just like saying abracadabra and pulling a hare from the magician’s dark hat, Mike deposits the fifty thousand Naira, expecting double the amount.

Mike, feeling overly bewildered and becoming uncomfortable with the ease, had to ask for more clarification, and this is where the conversation takes a sour turn.

A distraught Mike, agitated and livid from the harrowing experience, reached out to me. I asked him for some time to investigate the platform and understand what it was all about.

Most importantly, address the Elephant in the room, which is how they convert their leads so easily.

Why the high Conversion Rate?

Crowd1 has proven itself to be quite ingenious in its marketing and branding drive.

Using disruptive marketing both online and offline, the company’s customer acquisition rate looks like a Cinderella story. A global network of over 30 million members is no small feat, if you ask me.

Another underhanded method Crowd1 employs to convert unsuspecting leads is the use of cloned Facebook accounts of famous people, celebrities, News and TV networks, etc.

This method, though ludicrous, has been the most effective because it removes all toga of duplicity, presenting the company in a good light to its victims, and its army of unrelenting affiliates will stop at nothing to convince its leads to buy into its scheme.

The Dreams Crowd1 is selling

It is quite sad to wake up to the reality that you have been relatively robbed by a seemingly legitimate company with its potpourri of mouthwatering products, all aimed at making you the next Elon Musk.

The products in its kitty include:

1. Travellia where affiliates can book hotels and make savings of close to 65%, according to the information on their website,
2. Planet IX: A virtual Real Estate trading platform where investors can virtually trade intangible real estate.
3. Tigra Crypto: An app where investors can learn the art of investing, methinks this app serves as a conduit to suck and take funds in the cover of an investment from an innocent investor, using cryptocurrency, like some well-known shit coins, to push this charade even further.
4. Mindoe: According to them, Mindoe is a platform for self-development
5. Metaversy: A blockchain-based trading game where investors (players), can easily trade virtually in companies only seen in the Metaverse, pathetic if you ask me.
6. Emperor Knights: Another game-like app designed as a gaming engine where users get rewarded using the apps they already use.

These are the products on the platform; truly speaking, each looks legit, but unfortunately, the company and its affiliates and recruiters keep giving up this scam vibe, and the recent experience of Mike attests to this.

So is Crowd1 a scam?

The answer is an emphatic YES.

How pyramid schemes work is that the higher you are on the food chain, the more you earn, and the lower you are, the greater the probability of being the pawn in the entire scheme, just like Mike and others like him who have tasted the bitterness of this Swedish wonder bank.

Again, before going to press, I reached out to Mike to find out if the company has made any effort to effect a refund after he developed cold feet as it concerns going forward with the investment; it was shocking when the so-called recruiter even made more demands financially in addition to the fifty thousand Nigerian Naira (N50,000), already committed.

Mike was asked to remit an additional N28.550, a payment that was described as ‘KUWAIT FEE”, (whatever that means).

You can see evidence below:

The bad precedent the likes of Crowd1 are setting keeps giving the Blockchain and crypto industry a reputation and notoriety that makes people wary of taking advantage of the endless opportunities within the Blockchain space, sad.

Crowd1 keeps exploiting the poverty and naivety of victims living in two of the most populated countries in the world- India and Nigeria, making a massive fortune from all its bogus investment programs.

How to spot a scam Investment company

While I was really angry at the manner in which Mike was maltreated, I also find it commendable that he was willing to share his experience to help others not fall into the Crowd1 investment scam loop.

Below are some helpful tips to identify a potential scam:

1. Use Google- this is probably the easiest and most potent move, just by googling “Crowd1 investment legit or scam”, I got all the information concerning the company in seconds.
2. Ask friends: Always tell your friends, colleagues, or any trusted network you belong to about any company or investment idea before you commit a dime of your money to a thief sitting across the other end of the globe.
3. Start small: Naturally, we tend to be greedy and would want to reap hugely from small tokens; then the psychology would be “What if I put in this huge amount?”. Always start small and invest in what you are not afraid to lose.

What to do after

It is crazy that a lot of people do not even know that you can recover your money if you follow the right process.

Recovery is not guaranteed, but a great chance of it happening is indeed possible.

Just walk into your bank and file a complaint; a banking official will guide you through the process.

After reporting, the account number of the beneficiary (in this case, Crowd1), will be flagged for fraud.

Finally

While we sympathize with Mike, we commend him once again for coming forward to tell his story and share his wild experience with this so-called Blockchain investment aficionado whose stock in trade is robbing others for a huge payday.

Crowd1 might seem untouchable because of its huge pockets and connections but with consistent efforts to report its activities by individuals, the menace of this scam company would be proactively checked.

Governments should also take the initiative of banning them from their borders to stop them from fleecing their citizens of their hard-earned monies.

Have you been scammed by Crowd1 before?

Let us know in the comments.

Thanks for reading, and always do your due diligence before investing.