Suspected Ponzi scheme collapses leaving clients stranded

There is panic among some Zimbabweans after suspected Ponzi scheme, Bevern Capital closed its doors over the weekend. Bevern Capital which claims to be an investment firm has been offering ‘investors’ massive returns of up to 50 per cent in just 6 weeks, for any cash invested with them. The money has to be in United States Dollars (USD) and in cash. Bevern Capital claimed that it would invest the money into mining and stocks in order to generate such huge returns for its clients.

The company claimed that the returns are guaranteed because mining always generates foreign currency.However, the massive USD returns which translate to over 400 per cent per annum led some to suspect that this was an elaborate Ponzi Scheme/ pyramid scheme. Many people, it seems, however, were willing to disregard logic or were willing to risk it all in the hopes of striking it rich quickly.In the last few weeks, both the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have been warning people about investing with organisations which are not licenced to take deposits, warning that citizens could fall prey to fraudulent investment firms and lose their hard-earned money.

This comes after the number of shady organisations promising huge returns have been on the increase.Over the weekend, Bevern Capital posted a notice on their doors warning that they are temporarily shutting down due to legal and compliance issues. They went on to say that they are reorganizing themselves and will soon be reopening. However, no specific dates were given for the reopening.The notice from the company reads,

Inconveniences caused are sincerely regretted. We would like to advise all our valued clients that we have closed our offices for payins (sic) and payouts for the following reasons

1:Legal and compliance issuesIn order to ensure all our operations and services are delivered on your maturity date, we shall be organising ourselves and we will reopen soon.Please bear with us during this trying period.

Bevern Capital.

This announcement has led to panic among some Zimbabweans who were yet to collect their money or whose ‘investments’ were yet to mature. Social media has been ablaze with the news of Bevern Capital closing down.Those who did not invest or those who had managed to get all their money out after getting some returns are patting themselves on the back. Some also took the opportunity to mock those who had invested for lacking street smarts and general common sense.

Many also bemoaned how people keep falling for these schemes over and over yet there are many cautionary tales.However, those who had recently joined the scheme and those who had invested huge sums of money are in a panic as they contemplate if Bevern Capital will reopen its doors to allow them to get their money.