The rise, risk and fall of easy money 

Akangjungla

Naga people are not new to easy money making schemes and it is amusing how every time it is easier for the people to fall prey of such. This year around mid-summer, a ‘click on and earn’ app called Zalando spread like wildfire across Nagaland. 

Reported to have been launched about nine months ago by a person named ‘Founder-Kevin’, the Zalando app offered commissions for registered users in dollars based on a ‘daily task.’ The rate of commission depended on the amount of ‘registration fee’ or the ‘principal’ invested by each user. It also promised a certain commission for the number of ‘direct and indirect downline.’ Every now and then, ‘Founder-Kevin’ also offered ‘Lucky Bags and Envelopes’ to few timely users. To make it appear like a legit places to make extra cash online, the Zalando updates and ‘important meetings’ were operated only through Trillion Team on Telegram app. The Trillion groups had sequence of subgroups ‘Tiger Group 1, 2, 3, 4…’ The ‘Naga Team Zalando Official Team’ had over 6500 member which is believed to be just a small percentage of the actual app users from Nagaland. 

No doubt it was an open ponzi scheme and people were willing to risk and invest larger amount as ‘investors’ or say the victims, generated the income in five to six figures within days and weeks. On October 4, 2022 at round 11:00 am, the app that promised to stay for over ’20 years’ stopped working. But in just nine months time, Zalando proved itself and many people right by turning into another Ponzi fraudulent investing scam “promising high rates of return with little risk to investors” and in a short time, vanishing with the “investment fund without giving payouts to investors.”

Following the devastating closure of the app, a Dimapur-based newspaper wrote a comprehensive report on the scam where it quoted a Nagaland Police Officer, “I am unable to touch upon whether or not Zalando is actual or a rip-off, however, folks shouldn’t be simply thrilled or lured by cash that features on the spot refunds. This isn’t the primary incident in Nagaland. Many years in the past, there have been related circumstances, although expertise was utilized in these days.”

Not a long time ago, the Nagaland State Cyber Crime Police Station has issued a cautioning against falling prey to monetary scams online. The cautionary note came in the backdrop of a fraud case related to a so called HPZ tokens— a website that has allegedly duped crore from thousands of people across the country. The medium of exchange or transaction was via the internet. The investors were asked to download and install an app from the HPZ Token website maintained by the alleged scammers. In Nagaland, the scam started around June 2021 and by August 2021, the payments/returns stopped coming and the website became inaccessible. 

Despite several occurrences of ponzi schemes and real people incurring huge financial loss, authorities can do less or nothing as people are willing to take the risk. It is mostly the lure of big money that attracts 'investors' towards ponzi schemes while few are ignorant and gullible. The Zalando experience is in itself an example of the sad state of affair in the Naga society that people find it hard to resist the lure of easy money and fail to stay alert to the dangers and negative consequences of the love of money. 

Comments can be sent to akangjungla@gmail.com