The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has confirmed the arrest of Zhao Jiaotong, a Chinese national who was running E-Creator, a Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of Zimbabweans of their hard-earned cash.
In a statement released on Thursday, 13 July, ZRP Senior Staff Officer (Press and Public Relations), Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, urged people who have been duped by Zhao (39) to report to the nearest police station. Said Asst Comm Nyathi:
The Zimbabwe Republic Police confirms the arrest of Zhao Jiaotong (39) in connection with a case of Fraud in which unsuspecting members of the public were duped through the E-Creator Ponzi scheme.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police is inviting members of the public who might have been duped through E creator to report at any nearest Police Station.
We continue to implore members of the public to exercise due diligence before making any payments to Ponzi or pyramid schemes purportedly offering quick investment returns.
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator pays returns to its investors from their own money or from the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned.
The scheme relies on attracting new investors and using their investments to provide returns to earlier investors.
The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, an Italian-born swindler who became notorious in the early 20th century for running such a scheme.
Ponzi promised investors high returns on investments in international postal reply coupons, but he was actually using the money from new investors to pay off earlier investors.
