NCC begins probe Crowd1 operations
The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has begun looking into the operational structure of suspected pyramid scheme Crowd 1.
Crowd1 is digital networking system that claims to cut out ‘unnecessary intermediaries’ in online business and trading.
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Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has already flagged Crowd1 as “not authorised to render the financial services it is providing” in South Africa.
The FSCA has referred Crowd1 to the SA Reserve Bank, where it is being investigated.
The NCC’s acting commissioner Thezi Mabuza says the lack of a local, physical address for the company is of concern.
“We have received a complaint from another regulator that was looking into the matter in relations to the deposit taking, they have raised some concerns in relation to the manner in which this is happening that they do not see any deposits going through but then they know that people are being paid.
“In our research we have seen that there are chapters and we do not even know whether there is
even a real office.”
The company has in the past used the services of Springboks Duane Vermeulen and Eben Etzebeth to advertise its services.