Millionaire scam in Bogotá
Featured articlesBy Marsares
Saturday 9 February 2008 18:05 COT
Este artículo está disponible en ESPAÑOL
In the locality of Kennedy, south Bogotá, a criminal band swindled several unwary people out and stoled them around COP$ 3 billion (€1 million, US$1.56 million) using the "pyramid" scheme.
A band of swindlers, promising millionaire earnings, cheated thousands of residents several blocks around, taking money through this system.
In a modest, small, 12 square metre business, with two desks, four plastic chairs and a small electric typewriter, the criminals opened their office on 18 January.
Since the first day, neighbours’ attention was called for a big group of policemen assigned to the area who kept arriving and leaving the place, holding forms and even counting money where everyone could see them.
The first swindled asked the cops, who told them that this place, anyone who deposited an amount of money got big earnings within three days.
This was the procedure: the "investor" bought a form that cost COP$150,000 (€55, US$80), filled it and they were given a bank account number, in order to deposit at least COP$850,000 (€300, US$440). Three days later, in their own account, they were deposited COP$1,750,000 (€630, US$910).
The first one saw their agreed instalments to be faithfully fulfilled, which motivated lots of people when looking the promise of great earnings. Ten days later, they were informed that the instalments would be extended to 5 days.
Later, two weeks ago, the swindlers started to give multiple excuses, such as the early closing of the banks at the end of the month, weekends, working days, "systems down", etc., as they were getting money in huge amounts.
On Thursday afternoon, an angry user reclaimed the immediate return of his COP$30,000,000 (€10,750, US$15,600). Because of the scandal, his money was returned. Hours later, a second client demanded the return of COP$14,000,000 (€5,000, US$7,300), but in the office there were just COP$7,000,000 (€2,500, US$3,650) in cash, with the user did not want to keep because he was demanding the entire amount.
On Friday, they became greatly disappointed, as hundreds of people who wanted to know why the money was not deposited in their accounts in the set instalment, when they found the business closed.
Right now no one knows about the criminal gang, not even the owner of the place where the office was located, who claims he rented it in good faith. On the addresses they gave, no one knows them.
The curious thing about the case is that, on the last few days, the very same banks had warned the people depositing money there that it may related with a scam, though the clients insisted in continue with the transaction.
What is the pyramid?
This deposit-taking scheme known as the pyramid usually starts with few investors, each one of them bringing another few, the latter bringing even more people, until multiplying exponentially the number of money savers.
The first ones are paid with the money deposited by the second group, and these are paid with the money of the third group, and so on, until it becomes impossible to pay the exorbitant amounts of money previously promised.
In this moment, after collecting a huge amount of money, the pyramid creators disappear.
Who’s behind this?
According what equinoXio could figure out, on November, in a neighbourhood’s net café, a female police lieutenant, with another officer, were surfing a website, possibly the very same Colombian National Police website, where the famous pyramid scam was shown.
It’s a coincidence joined to the amount of policemen swarming around the place during the first days after the office was opened, buying forms and showing the money earned. According to the scammed, it was precisely the presence of the cops what made them to trust enough to invest.
"If the very same police was putting their money in this, how could you distrust?", one of the neighbours said, who confessed to deposit COP$2,000,000 (€720, US$1,040) to "Inversiones Acosta", as the company called itself.
On Friday, these policemen who, according to versions by sources in the area equinoXio has learnt, belong to the local police box, did not show up. Only did the crowd of the affected, some of which hope the owners of the business to appear on Monday.
Testimonies:
Summary for our English-speaking readers: This lady is a relative of a person living in the zone. She learnt about the pyramid because she was curious about the presence of the policemen at the place mid-January. She started to invest, but the owners of the business started to delay the payments with a lot of excuses, and made an appointment with the users on Friday to give them their money, but they did not show up. She claims the authorities have interrogated them [the users], but that nothing has happened, and she said that the amount the swindlers took from the public reaches €1 million. She provides the prices of the forms and the amounts of money they had to deposit, and also tells about the bank warnings; she regrets not having taken heed of them. When asked about how long had been the business there, she says it opened two weeks ago and that she learnt about it at the fourth day.
Summary for our English-speaking readers: This man tells equinoXio about how, within 5 days, the COP$850,000 (€300, US$440) they had to deposit to the business became COP$1,750,000 (€630, US$910).
This article was originally published 9 February 2007 in equinoXio. Translated from Spanish by Julián Ortega Martínez.
Tags: Bogotá, citizen journalism, Colombia, crime and law, Kennedy (Bogotá), money, police, pyramid, scam
tuesday 12 february 2008, 16:50 COT
Put the blame on a government who doesn’t educate the people, who doesn’t enforce the law, who doesn’t provide any protection to Colombians in desperate situations.