BE WARNED: WHATSAPP GIFTING SCHEME ILLEGAL

MBABANE - If you are undecided whether or not to join the now famous WhatsApp Gifting, which has attracted thousands of emaSwati, be warned that the scheme is illegal.

The scheme has attracted many people since it was introduced on social media recently. Many people have been recruiting others to join the illegal scheme. It has been established from some members that the group usually includes 11 associates. They stated that each member was required to pay E20 plus E4 Mobile Money charge for the transaction. The members stated that associates were at liberty to join a scheme which required that they paid E100 at a charge of E4.

“The principle of the group is that there must first be six registered members, with one of them being the group administrator as the scheme is ‘controlled’ through WatsApp. The other five members will have to recruit at least one member, which means a well-established group will have a minimum of 11 members. You can, however, recruit as many people as you can so that people quickly get their payouts. All the recruited members will pay the administrator. Once they have all paid, the administrator will have to leave the group and start from the bottom, meaning another person will be the administrator,” said one member of the scheme.

Recruit

He added that the remaining members would then split, that is the second and third member would have to form their new groups with the remaining members and recruit others. Asked how they made money, the members said the money was determined by the recruitment exercise. He said the more a member recruited new members, the more he/she made more cash.
“This is a fair scheme as far as I am concerned. We were told to take full responsibility when joining the scheme. We had all the time to decide whether to join or not and I believe the joining was voluntarily,” said the member who wished to remain anonymous. There was information to the effect that some members of the group cried foul after they observed some irregularities. The situation was so tense that some members ended up threatening others. However, for any financial institution to be considered legal in the country, it has to be registered with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).

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