THE SECURITIES Commission, the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ), the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) yesterday warned the public to be careful of get-rich-quick schemes, money-making ventures and pyramid-type sales firms.The schemes generate money by getting people to sign on to projects promising earnings of over US$105,000 a week in some cases.
"We want the public to know that these schemes represent a fraudulent system of making money, (which) operates by using the money coming from new, unsuspecting recruits to pay off old recruits. At some point, recruits will not be able to get new recruits to come in and the pyramid will collapse," the FTC and CAC said in statements.
The Bank of Jamaica and the Securities Commission said the Jamaicans were, in effect, playing roulette with their money, because such schemes, some of which are Internet-based, have no safety nets and are not regulated.
This means that any money used in the scheme was not covered by the statutory compensation fund, so if the pyramid failed, the investor would again be at square one like investors in the Friends in Partnership plan in Montego Bay which reportedly crashed last year, owing thousands to participants.
The crash prompted the Jamaica Labour Party's Deputy Leader, Audley Shaw, to call for regulations, to explicitly make illegal any scheme calculated to deceive the Jamaican people into believing that they can get rich overnight.
The agencies also warned that anyone who is not authorised, but who takes or advertises for deposits from the public or offers investment services or advice, is breaking the law.
