In the Pavlodar region, a resident of Ekibastuz who organised a financial pyramid scheme in the WhatsApp messenger has been convicted.
According to the regional court press service, in late 2020 she created groups called ‘LiveStyler’, ‘Karlygash’, ‘Umnozhayka’, ‘Shans’ and others, where she recruited investors by promising high returns. Invited group members transferred money to the accounts of the defendant and her relatives.
To create the illusion of the scheme's profitability, the woman paid some money back to participants using funds from new investors. The remaining funds she spent on personal needs.
For example, one of the victims joined the ‘LiveStyler’ group and, between January and November 2021, transferred about 14 million tenge to the defendant. Of this amount, the fraudster returned 8.5 million tenge to the victim, and kept the remaining 5.4 million tenge for herself.
The court found the resident of Ekibastuz guilty and sentenced her to 4 years of restricted freedom. Additionally, the convicted woman was ordered to pay 26 million tenge in material damages to 23 victims.
Earlier, authorities in Astana shut down the activities of the financial pyramid scheme ‘Happy Life KZ’, whose investors lost more than 286 million tenge. All the victims were pensioners who trusted the tempting promises of easy income.