A Ponzi Scheme Targets Desperate Workers Amid Zimbabwe's Employment Crisis (restofworld.org) 20
Dumi, a Zimbabwean, fell for E-Creator's review-writing job, investing $112. When the company's director disappeared with $1M, his account was frozen, leaving him scammed. Rest of World reports: Thousands of Zimbabweans have been lured into a scam in hopes of making a quick buck, at a time when unemployment in the country is high: Estimates vary from 7.9% to 20%, or even 90%, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Alongside the job crisis, the country has been reeling under an inflation of more than 100%, with many struggling to make ends meet. Dumi, who previously worked as a clerk, told Rest of World he found it hard to get another job due to scarce opportunities. He said he joined the E-Creator scheme hoping he'd earn an income while waiting to find the job of his dreams. "Some of us living in marginalized townships such as Mbare, with no decent employment, jumped at an opportunity, which seemed to be so technologically significant and rewarding. Losing money in the process was unexpected," Dumi said, adding that he would not have joined the scheme if he had a job of his choice.
E-Creator agents told Rest of World they had taken up the role because they were unemployed or couldn't find enough work. They said they were lured by the promise of earning 10% returns for posting 10 fake reviews if they invested between $15 and $100. There were higher rewards promised for bigger investments: Depositing $100-$500 and recruiting five agents meant an additional 4.5% return; depositing $500-$2,000 and recruiting over 50 others would take earnings to the highest level of a 5% commision and a 10% base payout. While they could withdraw money from their E-Creator wallets, the lure of getting higher returns stopped them from doing so. Watson Manjobo, a former manager and affiliate marketer for E-Creator, told Rest of World the company owed him his salary for June. His job was to recruit more users and help people reset their account passwords. When news of Jiaotong's escape went viral, users flooded his phone with messages demanding answers, he said, adding that his direct superiors have since been unreachable.
E-Creator agents told Rest of World they had taken up the role because they were unemployed or couldn't find enough work. They said they were lured by the promise of earning 10% returns for posting 10 fake reviews if they invested between $15 and $100. There were higher rewards promised for bigger investments: Depositing $100-$500 and recruiting five agents meant an additional 4.5% return; depositing $500-$2,000 and recruiting over 50 others would take earnings to the highest level of a 5% commision and a 10% base payout. While they could withdraw money from their E-Creator wallets, the lure of getting higher returns stopped them from doing so. Watson Manjobo, a former manager and affiliate marketer for E-Creator, told Rest of World the company owed him his salary for June. His job was to recruit more users and help people reset their account passwords. When news of Jiaotong's escape went viral, users flooded his phone with messages demanding answers, he said, adding that his direct superiors have since been unreachable.
One scammer scammed another (Score:2)
Or what we call in America (Score:1)
Also, it's 2023. Stop saying "Job of his Dreams". We need to all collectively agree to stop dreaming of work. Work is something you do because you have to, it's not something you dream of.
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No, work is what you do to get paid. You can love it and dream of it or not. But most people with careers are actually passionate about them.
Ponzi's do work... (Score:1)
...IF you can find a bigger sucker.
Big surprise (Score:2)
Pyramid, ponzi and get-rich-quick scams flourish when people are desperate for money. It's happened before and it will happen again. There are enough desperate and stupid people to be sure of that.
It Used To Be the Bread Basket of Africa (Score:3)
But that was the 1970s and even 1980s when Mugabe's cronyism turned the country into a shit hole that can't even really fee itself. Much like the ANC seems to be trying to do in South Africa. That is just the truth.
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But that was the 1970s and even 1980s when Mugabe's cronyism turned the country into a shit hole that can't even really fee itself. Much like the ANC seems to be trying to do in South Africa. That is just the truth.
"Africa Wins Again"
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Rock and a hard place.
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But that was the 1970s and even 1980s when Mugabe's cronyism turned the country into a shit hole that can't even really fee itself. Much like the ANC seems to be trying to do in South Africa. That is just the truth.
No, it's false. Production peaked 1990 (Mugabe won the election 1980).Source https://www.indexmundi.com/agr... [indexmundi.com]
100% inflation? Not... the worst? (Score:2)
Not great circumstances to live under, certainly. But their inflation was 500% in 2020, and 24,500% in 2007. You can buy 100 Trillion Zimbabwe-dollar bills online as a novelty. I don't understand their economy enough to know if it's a dead cat bounce or not... but a failed state is a failed state.
Buzzards picking on carcasses. What a mess. I have no idea how one goes about fixing something like that.
Zimbabwe is a tragedy (Score:5, Interesting)
What has happened to Zimbabwe over the last thirty years is a real tragedy. I spent a month there in early 1986 and Zimbabwe was one of Africa's success stories, much like its neighbor Botswana to the west. At that time, the economy was in excellent shape, there were not a lot of unemployed or beggars on the streets of Harare, the capital city, and the Zimbabwe dollar was actually worth something. The white Rhodesians who chose to stay and not flee to Britain or South Africa were treated well and valued by the government. And Robert Mugabe was quite moderate politically mostly and generally well-respected by the electorate although there were tribal differences given that he was Shona, the majority tribe, and they are not on good terms with the Nbele, a minority. He didn't have to stuff the ballot boxes to get elected. I actually saw evidence of this genuine popularity when I was in Harare. While my dad and I were killing time in the Meikles Gardens across the street from the Parliament building while waiting to catch a train to Botswana, we spotted a largish crowd of people gathered on the edge of the park across from the entrance to Parliament and went to investigate. When we got there, two trucks with soldiers and a Mercedes sedan pulled up alongside the building. Soon afterward, Mugabe walked out of the building, gave a big wave toward the crowd, and got into his car. The crowd reciprocated with cheers and waves.
Today, everything is different. Robert Mugabe went insane and started become erratic and dictatorial, perhaps because the death of his beloved wife Sally in 1992. He started to fix elections to remain in power. The whites are now gone, their land stolen from them by Robert Mugabe's "land redistribution" policies in the early 2000's that also wrecked the economy and triggered the massive hyperinflation, turning a country that was once a food exporter into an importer because the black subsistence farmers who moved onto the seized land knew nothing about how to run a large, mechanized agribusiness. I recently saw a YouTube video taken in Harare about three years and I don't recognize the place. Unemployed people are absolutely everywhere. Zimbabwe turned into another one of Donald Trump's "shit hole countries" and it didn't have to happen and it is a great pity because I thoroughly enjoyed the kindness and gentleness of the Zimbabwean people.
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One of my ex-colleagues was from Zim, so I got interested in what was happening over there during the "Land Distribution" phase.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just to Mugabe going nuts. There was a whole apparatus of "War Veterans" and corrupt minsters who collectively and deliberately drove the country down the pan. It wasn't just rich white farmers being dispossessed, Successful black farmers (not many admittedly) and foreign owned enterprises suffered the same fate. Treaties with the government weren't worth
DEI (Score:2)
Zimbabwe is the final equilibrium state of DEI.