In Kenya today, We are often taught not to trust anything/anyone online. This was the case in 2021/2022 when a notorious pyramid scheme resurfaced with a vengeance. They had evolved, becoming more sophisticated, elusive, and impervious to regulation. These schemes had lurked in the internet, ensnaring thousands of unsuspecting, young Kenyans with the allure of easy money. The name was Public Likes.
These scam had promised quick riches, but just like all pyramids, they had inevitably crumbled, leaving countless victims in financial ruin. It had posed as a website where users could earn money by merely clicking on ‘adverts.’
Public Likes had attracted new investors with promises of unusually high short-term returns. However, these returns hadn’t been from legitimate business activities. The website had presented itself as a “social media marketing” platform, claiming to connect advertisers with potential customers.
Users on this site had earned money simply by clicking on ads, in a scheme referred to as Paid-to-Click (PTC). They had been led to believe that advertisers had paid them for every click, known as Pay per Click (PPC). It had been a clever deception.
Public Likes hadn’t just been a Ponzi scheme; it had been part of a complex online fraud that had cost advertisers nearly Ksh 2 trillion annually in lost advertising revenue.
Jane had been among the earliest investors in this scheme, which had attracted approximately 2 million users in less than three months at its peak. Public Likes had even outperformed well-known websites like Twitter, Standard Digital, Wikipedia, and Sportspesa.com in popularity, according to Alexa, a California-based company that had tracked web traffic data.
Jane had had around Ksh 60,000 invested in the company when Safaricom had decided to suspend Public Likes’ Paybill. This move had come in response to numerous complaints from users who hadn’t been receiving their payments.
The company had insisted it hadn’t closed down, only temporarily pausing transactions while they had made changes. Meanwhile, Jane and others who had already recouped their investments had shrugged it off.
Latecomers like Peter, who had been attracted by the Ksh 20,000 Jane had been withdrawing weekly, had been left in suspense. If Public Likes had gone down, it had taken Peter’s hard-earned Ksh 4,500 with it. Both Jane and Peter had invested Ksh 4,500 to move past the first level, where users had had to wait three months and click on five ‘adverts’ every day to earn Ksh 10 for each click. Most people had quickly upgraded to the Business Basic level, where a one-time Ksh 4,500 subscription had allowed them to earn Ksh 7,500 per month.
Muniu Thoithi, head of forensics at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), had found this arrangement intriguing. He had stated that it had been peculiar for users to pay the PTC site to click on ads when they should have been paid for clicking on the links.
The Premium account subscription fee had been Ksh 14,000, allowing users to watch a maximum of 50 ads and earn Ksh 15,000 per month. At the highest level, Gold, users had paid a Ksh 90,000 subscription fee and had earned Ksh 30,000 monthly.
Despite knowing it had been a pyramid scheme, Jane had recouped her investments, while Peter had been left in limbo. The pyramid scheme had operated by receiving payments from new entrants like Peter and redistributing them to early users at the top, such as Jane.
When Peter had examined the list of advertisers on the website, he had noticed that most of them had been other PTC websites, which had raised questions about why these sites had paid for clicks. This had suggested that there had been little, if any, earnings from real advertisers.
Public Likes had started with genuine products, especially hotels, but they had mostly been international establishments. The hotels may have been duped into paying for viewers who hadn’t converted into customers, affecting Public Likes’ revenue.
According to Thoithi, PTC sites had struggled to attract advertisers willing to pay for clicks from users genuinely interested in the ads. Some PTC sites had even acted as affiliates to other PTC sites, redirecting clicks to the primary PTC site.
Peter had refrained from withdrawing his money, hoping it would accumulate, but the suspension of the Paybill number had dashed those hopes. Now, Public Likes had been tempting users like Peter with new earning options such as offer walls, videos, and a daily jackpot.
Public Likes had also insisted it hadn’t shut down its Paybill, temporarily suspending transactions to streamline operations. Safaricom had confirmed that they had met with the company’s representatives but couldn’t reveal their identities.
Public Likes might have also been linked to a global scam known as click fraud, which had robbed advertisers of about Ksh 1.7 trillion annually, according to ad verification company Adloox. Click fraud had involved repeatedly clicking on ads to generate revenue for the host site or drain revenue from advertisers.
In this type of fraud, a PTC site like Public Likes had been known as a click farm, where low-paid workers had been hired to click on paid advertising links.
While this online deception had continued to grow, fueled by high unemployment rates, increasing internet penetration, and a burgeoning mobile economy in Africa, it had been crucial for individuals to exercise caution. Falling victim to pyramid schemes had often reflected a lack of proper research, even when information had been readily available.
Despite numerous pyramid schemes collapsing and causing significant financial losses, people had continued to be lured into such ventures. The allure of quick and easy money had led individuals down a path of financial devastation, and this cycle had appeared far from ending.
As the Public Likes scheme had unraveled, another PTC, “Synergy Traffic,” had emerged, offering more attractive terms. Users had been able to withdraw a minimum of Ksh 2,500, and there had been no limits on daily clicks. Unlike Public Likes, Synergy Traffic had used Bitcoin for payments, making transactions difficult to trace.
While some like Jane may have considered joining another pyramid scheme, it had been essential to recognize the risks and pitfalls associated.
As we are all evolving to an internet- dependent Society, beware of online scams. They can ruin your life.