The Bank of Ghana has on several occasions cautioned the general public against the activities of companies which operate Ponzi schemes through virtual offices.
According to the Central Bank, these companies have over 10,000 clients, and move from place to place to mobilise deposits from the general public.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), recently ordered unlicensed financial investment firms in the country offering schemes and products at unreasonably high returns, to close down immediately or face the law.
It said the activities of these firms are in clear breach of various provisions of the Security Industry Act of 2016, Act 929.
According to the SEC, it has taken note of the various activities of these unlicensed investment firms, which it labeled as “‘pyramid and ponzi schemes”
It said these firms were taking advantage of the unsuspecting public through various advertising platforms to extract their lifesavings from them.
SEC claims the high rates of promised interests are mostly dollar denominated, noting proper disclosure on the risk and the ability to pay are not made by these entities.
The regulatory commission said it is not out there to destroy businesses and that it is only executing its mandate of protecting the interest of investors.
It has thus advised the public to be weary of these schemes and desist from investing with such schemes and report activities of such firms for action to be taken.
