Ponzi scheme targets desperate workers amid Zimbabwe’s employment crisis

E-Creator offered an opportunity to earn money by writing fake reviews for e-commerce websites

By restofworld.org

• Several unemployed Zimbabweans were scammed by E-Creator, a platform that promised payment for writing fake reviews on e-commerce websites.
• In June, local reports said the company’s director Zhao Jiaotong had run off with over $1 million obtained from the scam. He has since been arrested.
• Experts say such schemes thrive on people’s desperation at a time when unemployment in Zimbabwe is as high as 90%, according to some estimates, and inflation is more than 100%.

Dumi, a 26-year-old from Harare’s Mbare township, had been unemployed for about two years this past May when he heard of E-Creator, a company that paid people to write positive reviews on e-commerce platforms like Zalando and Lazada.

The job sounded almost too good to be true: Dumi would have to go through a range of products on E-Creator’s website — items like sling bags or backpacks — and write reviews for 10 of them. This would earn him $4 a day. Dumi, who spoke to Rest of World under a pseudonym, estimated it’d take him less than 20 minutes to complete the task daily.

The only catch was that he would first need to invest $15 from his own pocket. But Dumi said he did so without concern, drawn by the prospect of making money.

During the first two weeks at this job, E-Creator kept prompting him to invest incremental amounts of $15. By June, he had deposited $112 into the e-wallet on E-Creator, and that’s when things suddenly went downhill.

On June 30, Dumi woke up to find his E-Creator account frozen. He had $250 in his wallet that he could no longer withdraw. Within days, scores of other Zimbabweans had taken to social media to complain about their money being stuck with E-Creator. Local reports alerted the public to a statement posted on E-Creator’s website: The company claimed its director, Zhao Jiaotong, had disappeared. More reports claimed he had run off with over $1 million, obtained from scamming people like Dumi.

Thousands of Zimbabweans have been lured into a scam in hopes of making a quick buck, at a time when unemployment in the country is high: Estimates vary from 7.9% to 20%, or even 90%, according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Alongside the job crisis, the country has been reeling under an inflation of more than 100%, with many struggling to make ends meet.

Dumi, who previously worked as a clerk, told Rest of World he found it hard to get another job due to scarce opportunities. He said he joined the E-Creator scheme hoping he’d earn an income while waiting to find the job of his dreams. “Some of us living in marginalized townships such as Mbare, with no decent employment, jumped at an opportunity, which seemed to be so technologically significant and rewarding. Losing money in the process was unexpected,” Dumi said, adding that he would not have joined the scheme if he had a job of his choice.

“These schemes thrive on people’s desperation and misplaced hope for  overnight and easy riches,” political analyst Tawanda Majoni told Rest of World. “The country is suffering from a high unemployment rate, and opportunities for formal employment are very poor.” He said the majority of Zimbabweans, struggling to earn a decent living, would find any promise of convenient income tempting.

E-Creator agents told Rest of World they had taken up the role because they were unemployed or couldn’t find enough work. They said they were lured by the promise of earning 10% returns for posting 10 fake reviews if they invested between $15 and $100. There were higher rewards promised for bigger investments: Depositing $100–$500 and recruiting five agents meant an additional 4.5% return; depositing $500–$2,000 and recruiting over 50 others would take earnings to the highest level of a 5% commision and a 10% base payout. While they could withdraw money from their E-Creator wallets, the lure of getting higher returns stopped them from doing so.

Watson Manjobo, a former manager and affiliate marketer for E-Creator, told Rest of World the company owed him his salary for June. His job was to recruit more users and help people reset their account passwords. When news of Jiaotong’s escape went viral, users flooded his phone with messages demanding answers, he said, adding that his direct superiors have since been unreachable.

Hetani Chimumu, an undergraduate student, was introduced to the E-Creator scheme by a friend in May. He saw it as a potential part-time job that would help sustain him through school. According to Chimumu, several other students at his university had joined the scheme. He had over $300 in his E-Creator wallet when news of the scam broke. “It was a new thing for us,” he told Rest of World. “Making money in the comfort of your home was unbelievable. Losing out was a major blow.”

Arnold Munashe Mandizvidza, a self-employed real estate agent, decided to join E-Creator after he heard a friend had bought a king-size bed using the cash he earned through the platform. Mandizvidza signed up on E-Creator in May; he initially deposited $47. Over the following two weeks, he recruited 134 people through Facebook, and was able to make a one-time withdrawal of around $35. Encouraged, he injected more money into E-Creator, going as far as to borrow money from his mother. By the time the scheme collapsed, he had around $530 in the account, which he couldn’t withdraw.

Farai Mushove, tech analyst and software engineer at Desonet IT Solutions, told Rest of World that companies like E-Creator exploit the lack of regulation and oversight in Zimbabwe’s e-commerce sector. “There is a need for better regulation into the digital space, particularly in financial transactions and online commerce through improving data privacy and security, as well as promoting transparency and accountability in digital transactions,” he said.

On July 13, the Zimbabwean police arrested Jiaotong, who continues to be in their custody. The E-Creator website has since been shut down, and the app has been removed from the Google Play store. Rest of World attempted to contact the Zimbabwean police for comment over phone and email, but did not get a response by the time of publication.