The Bank of Guyana, Guyana Securities Council and the Financial Intelligence Unit as members of the regulatory framework for the Financial Sector in Guyana, take this opportunity to issue this Joint Public Advisory regarding participation in Pyramid Schemes also referred to as Ponzi Schemes.
We wish to advise that such schemes and their activities are fraudulent, illegal, unlawful and unregulated.
It is our understanding that these schemes are being offered to the public via direct solicitation and by various social media platforms, including but not limited to WhatsApp and Facebook. Potential investors are lured to these schemes by offers of returns or interest rates as high as fifty percent (50%) per month. All fiscal empirical data will establish that this is a prudent commercial impossibility.
A key element of the Scheme is also that persons are encouraged to refer new persons and an additional incentive of ten percent (10%) is paid for referred investors.
It is our information that several of these schemes are being operated simultaneously. We advise that these operations are all fraudulent, illegal, unlawful and unregulated, and will eventually result in significant financial losses to investors.
The known case of Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. formerly operated under the name and style of Accelerated Wealth Inc., and their principals both in their personal and corporate capacity, have been offering these alleged investment services since 2017.
However, Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. (ACFI) ONLY submitted their application for registration with the Guyana Securities Council on August 6th, 2020.
The Guyana Securities Council formally advised Accelerated Capital Firm Inc that the application submitted was incomplete and remains pending. Additional supporting documentation was requested from the company based on the requirements of the Securities Industry Act 1998 and Regulations thereto. To date, the additional information requested, and requirements outlined have not been provided, including the minimum required paid up capital to register as a Securities Company of two hundred million Guyana dollars (G$200M).
As regulators, we are committed to working with the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to bring the perpetrators of these scams/ fraud to justice, and to ensure persons who have invested funds are reimbursed. Further, we remain committed to ensuring the financial sector in Guyana remains transparent, accountable, regulated and protected from and against criminal elements. We will continue to collaborate with our international partners in several regional and international jurisdictions in a concerted effort to recover funds that the scammers claimed to have remitted to those jurisdictions, including the USA, Belize, Germany, Greece and Switzerland. Unfortunately, our efforts thus far have not unearthed any monies in any of these jurisdictions, as is alleged. It has also been established that no substantial monies were deposited in or transmitted from any commercial bank in Guyana by Accelerated Capital Firm Inc. (ACFI) or its principals to any of the jurisdictions mentioned above or any other jurisdiction.
We strongly encourage persons not to be drawn into these schemes as they are simply avenues of entrapment which can only result in fraudulent deprivation of monies. Persons are hereby advised to use the formal financial institutions to deposit and invest their accumulated savings. Any individual or entity promoting a financial investment opportunity must be registered with the Guyana Securities Council. If anyone offers these services and you have reason to believe that the entity is unlicensed, you are advised to report the matter to the Guyana Police Force and/ or the Financial Intelligence Unit.
Contact Information is as follows:
Guyana Police Force – 619-4418
Financial Intelligence Unit – 231-6781 or via email at info@fiu.gov.gy.
