Police urge Pyramid Scheme victims to come forward

Authorities in Grenada have arrested a suspect believed to be a key figure in the now dissolved pyramid scheme, Creators Alliance (CA), with local law enforcement speculating that the scheme may have robbed Vincentians of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On April 13, 2025, the police in Grenada intercepted a Ghanaian national, known as “Lillian,” at the Maurice Bishop International Airport while attempting to leave the island. The suspect, now facing money laundering charges, has been identified as a leading person in the regional expansion of the scheme with the fallout affecting people in Barbados, The Bahamas, St Lucia as well as Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

Speaking on the On The Beat programme on the topic, ‘Spotting the Red Flags of a Pyramid Scheme. How to Protect Yourself and Others’, Superintendent of Police, Junior Simmons urged members of the public who were affected by the scheme to come forward so the police can build a case here.

“In most cases law enforcement does not have the information to launch an investigation into these schemes. So we are calling on members of the public, if you were deceived in one way or the other by these pyramid schemes, please come forward to the police.”

Corporal, Aleea Stapleton, attached to the Information Technology Department of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), said while the exact amount of money lost to Vincentians engaged in the scheme is not known, the address for the crypto-wallet connected to the application shows that millions of dollars had been invested into the scheme. He also disclosed that a wide cross section of people were affected by the scheme, including nurses and also police officers.

“If you check the blockchain, and if that is in fact the crypto wallet that was used… between March to [April 13] there has been like $2 million plus dollars that has been transferred from this account to another account. When you check the other wallet, it has been transferred to a different wallet. So a lot of money has been used.”

The crash of Creators Alliance on April 2, 2025 revealed that the reach of the UK-based scheme had in excess of 50,000 people. The scheme worked by requiring members to pay a little over EC$300 to join with a business model that supposedly paid out money to members to watch videos online. There was a heavy focus on recruitment of new members with members being able to ‘cash out’ their wallet after accumulating returns on their initial investment.

Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), La Teisha Sandy-Marks said the scheme was littered with red flags.

“[The] scheme relies heavily on recruiting new people to come in.

Rather than selling legitimate products or services, you have a situation where there are no products or services being offered … that initial person who sits at the top of this pyramid, and each person who joins recruits additional persons and that recruitment process is what creates the different levels. So the higher up you are, the more benefits you are likely to derive.”

Sandy-Marks said the FIU has recognized an upsurge in pyramid schemes such as CA and Blessings Circles since the COVID-19 pandemic as many were out of work and it has since grown to target individuals such as young people who have recently finished school, and others who “may not necessarily want to go out and have a nine to five”.

She reminded Vincentians that under the Consumer Protection Act there is provision for penalties for persons found to be engaging in pyramid schemes.

“We have the Consumer Protection Act which, as a result of the upsurge in these types of offenses, it actually includes pyramid selling as an offense. So there is legislation in place that will deal with it and if you are convicted of this offense you can be subject on summary conviction to a fine of $10,000 and, or, imprisonment for two years,” Sandy-Marks pointed out.

“Given that in St Vincent and the Grenadines, we have an all-crimes approach, meaning that any offense for which there is a financial benefit, no matter what it is, once it is a crime and you get money, you can also be charged for money laundering.”

She noted as well that the sharing of real-time information is critical for regional bodies to investigate these schemes.