The government has warned the public to not engage in business with Century Heng Yue (CHY) Ltd, saying it was luring people into a pyramid scheme.

The warning comes after a government investigation into the operations of CHY Ltd, which is registered as an e-commerce business—revealed that the firm had diverted into a pyramid scheme.

"The Ministry of Trade and Industry would like to inform the public that a company called Century Heng Yue, registered by RDB to do e-commerce business, has diverted to a pyramid scheme, which is a prohibited business in Rwanda,” the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

Therefore, the statement said, the public is advised not to engage in a form of pyramid business with this company.

The ministry said that the assessment was conducted in collaboration with other institutions including the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Central Bank of Rwanda (BNR), Rwanda Development Board and Chamber of ICT in the Private Sector Federation (PSF).

The central bank has in the past cautioned the public on the emergence and operations of pyramid scams.

The bank says that operators often masquerade as locally registered businesses or registered abroad and are accessible via online platforms.

In May 2019, companies such as Supermarketings Global Ltd, 3 friends System Group, One Coin and Kwakoo were found to often require new members/recruits to pay a fixed amount of money to the scheme’s promoters often guised as a membership fee with the promise to receive a portion of new entrants’ fees.

Among the easiest ways to detect fake schemes is a promise to make one rich in a short period with minimum effort.

The central bank said that such operations are illegal in the country and members stand to lose their money.

In November 2019, Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) arrested six suspects in multi-level marketing scams (pyramid scheme) that involved two phony companies namely Amway Group Ltd and Master Global Partners Ltd.

In September 2018, World Ventures, a firm that had been branding itself as a multi-level travel company was also deemed as a possible pyramid scheme by the government.

 In 2013, five companies operating under similar models were banned in the country for being Pyramid schemes.

The firms included Diamond Holiday Travel Ltd, Twese Development Initiative Ltd, Ingaru Company Ltd, Aguka Development Ltd and Cooperative Abigize.