Why swift action was not taken in relation to EbayShop pyramid scam when it was unlicensed and unregistered?

Urgent calls are being made by many people to hold those agencies accountable who did not act swiftly in relation to the EbayShop recruitment scam, which resulted in the fraudsters setting up outlets in different parts of the country and local agents duping many people of millions of dollars.

They are also calling for swift action in relation to the recovery of the funds as these proceeds of crime have either been used to buy assets, are in some people’s bank accounts or large amounts of hard cash is stored in places to avoid any traces through the registered financial institutions.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communications Manoa Kamikamica says no due diligence was done when giving the business license and that is how the EbayShop scheme started in Fiji.

Kamikamica says when companies are registered, it is not a heavily scrutinised process and that is why the inter-agency taskforce is having a discussion now where certain types of businesses need to be put under laser focus and maybe have an authority that identifies them as a legitimate operation before they are allowed to trade.

The Deputy Prime Minister says the regulators cannot act unless someone complains and that is why there was a long period of non-intervention. He says hopefully going forward, at least one regulator can declare a business as a scam and it can be stopped before the bleeding becomes bad.

The Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit has commenced investigations and profiling of seven known “agents” (managers/promoters) of ‘EbayShop Online Recruiting’, and FIU’s intelligence case reports will be disseminated to Police for further action including possible restraining and forfeiture of any tainted funds.

FIU Director, Razim Buksh says while only two cases were recently brought to the attention of the FIU involving the EbayShop Online cam, reports on social media indicate several thousand vulnerable Fijians have lost their money to the illegal pyramid scheme through local “agents”.

In one case, a female, a self-employed lecturer received funds from various parties from January to August 2023 through multiple “wallets”. These wallets facilitated transactions of more than $300,000 during this period. One of these wallets was used to purchase cryptocurrency from at least three online exchanges through the use of an international debit card.

He says the scam was marketed and offered on the social media network and people were fooled to give their money to the so-called “agents” of “EbayShop” that were operating an unlicensed and unregistered financial investment business in Fiji.

The FIU had warned members of the public that pyramid selling schemes and investments in cryptocurrency and foreign digital wallets are illegal in Fiji.

Buksh has also made it clear that anyone promoting or operating a pyramid selling scheme, such as, the ‘EbayShop Online Recruiting’, would commit an offence under section 87A of the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission Act 2010.

After the statement by FIU and the concerns being raised, we have sent questions to the FCCC CEO, Joel Abraham and asked why didn’t the FCCC act quickly and with urgency knowing that EbayShop was unregistered and unlicensed, why action was not taken under the Act as it was a pyramid scheme, and what is being done to ensure this is not repeated and left for months with outlets in different parts of the country duping the people of the country. He has not responded however it was earlier said that FCCC was investigating the operation since July and gathering evidence as there was no complaint.

We also sent the same questions to the Police regarding this issue.

Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Crime, Mesake Waqa says Police act once the matter is reported to them or referred from FCCC.

When asked on what Police are doing to ensure that those officers who may have been involved in the scam are not involved in investigating the matter, ACP Waqa says cases involving police officers would be treated as normal whether they are victims or suspects.