Beware of the many con schemes

What you need to know:

  • Also, we need to be cautious of fake pastors and churches that are only interested in your money! They ask you to give all your money and stay at church all day praying while the pastors go out to work and visiting their children at school. You will remain poor.

On several occasions, Ugandans have lost colossal sums of money in grand scams that started by promising them quick financial gains. These have ranged from pyramid schemes, network marketing to massive offerings in churches that close as soon as they collect just enough for them to run away and open up in another location.

The most unfortunate bit is that these scams are always perpetrated by the so the called elites, who lack financial literacy. Many have been duped of earning from online investments to purchasing items such as ipads after which you reportedly start earning a monthly dividend all your life.

With the high unemployment rate, many Ugandans, especially the youth, are prone to fall prey to these scams because they want to earn quick money. Unfortunately, these scams have continued to thrive at the watch of the authorities, even when alarms have been raised by individuals.

I have noted that different entities such as the Capital Markets Authority and Bank of Uganda have issued notices on the same but majority do not take heed. However, I call upon these authorities to follow up on these scams and not just issue statements and notices. They need to protect the tax payers from wasteful ventures.

The church, unfortunately, has been infiltrated by these grand scam schemes. I have received several cases where people have given their entire annual pay to the so called men of God, “sown” all their businesses capital, school fees, salaries in the “ministry”, leaving their children at home with no school fees and their business crumbling, again, with no divine intervention.

I, therefore, call upon Ugandans to be cautious of these schemes and to only invest after receiving professional advice and after conducting thorough due diligence. Do not be in a rush to invest in any company without inquiring about its legal status, whether it is listed on the stock and securities exchange, among others.

Also, we need to be cautious of fake pastors and churches that are only interested in your money! They ask you to give all your money and stay at church all day praying while the pastors go out to work and visiting their children at school. You will remain poor.

Michael Aboneka,
Kampala