Do scams outwit officials?

New version of Tiger Agriculture within days of the FSCA warning.

- Adriaan Kruger

On 6 November, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) issued a warning against Tiger Agriculture, a pyramid scheme promoted on social media that offers huge returns when people buy seedlings that are supposedly grown to mature plants and then sold.

On 8 November, the team leaders of the Tiger scheme started promoting Farm Home Stead, an exact replica of the scheme, but based on farm animals instead of plants.

The new scam uses the exact same website layout, and simply replaced the pictures of plants with pictures of cows, pigs and chickens.

This past Monday, a Tiger Agriculture Facebook group announced the launch of Ford Car Rentals, also using the exact same website layout as Tiger Agriculture and Farm Home Stead.

"New baby just landed," it said about Ford Car Rentals, sporting pictures of vehicles where the plants and animals used to be.

The sales pitch and modus operandi of the schemes are all the same. People are invited to join small groups of investors to invest in seedlings/animals/cars, and entice others to join too.

Impossible returns

Tiger Agriculture says on its website that its internet-based sharing economy model allows small farmers and other people to adopt seedlings and share in the profits.