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There are many investments being touted now on Facebook and even through adverts in mainstream media – including adverts placed with City Press – that should be treated with caution.
In most of these cases, people are asked to invest a lump sum in an asset such as a truck, or even to purchase minerals such as coal. They are then told that there is either a guaranteed contract in place to hire out that truck with huge returns, or an opportunity to sell a mineral at a large profit.
These are all unregistered businesses and do not have authorisation to take money from the public. While the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) is not in a position to make a statement about these businesses at this stage, it does warn against investments that have unrealistic returns and that are unregistered.
Trucking scams are quite common in South Africa and tend to reappear every few years. In 2016, a 33- year-old man was arrested and charged with 67 counts of fraud after he allegedly baited investors to give him R80 000 after he promised very high monthly returns from what he described as “excellent, well serviced and maintained trucks with transport hire agreements”. In 2006, a similar syndicate was bust by the authorities.
A few months ago, the FSCA issued a warning against a company called Chenge Logistics, which was offering investors a 116% return in a year.
On raiding the premises in Pietermaritzburg, the FSCA said that its investigation found that Chenge Logistics was not investing the money as it had told its clients it was.
In this case, the owners of the company were promising a return of more than 100% in a year for investing in their logistics empowerment business. The case is still to be heard in court.
City Press has received many queries about a company called Coin-It, which offers a high monthly income for investments in logistical equipment.
Coin-It’s Facebook page shows that it is starting to miss payments to investors and is using various excuses for nonpayment, such as bank account issues.
Remember, when returns appear to be too good to be true, they usually are – and the company is not necessarily legit just because it paid for an advert.
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