Scam Alert: Cowrywise Impersonators

Cowrywise impersonators are on the rise but it isn’t a new problem for a company to face.

Every year, thousands of people find themselves losing money to digital thieves. Sadly many of them never recover these stolen funds or catch the scammers who took their hard-earned money. It’s a tale that has plagued the ever-evolving digital world and one that never ends well for the unsuspecting victims.

The internet hasn’t just made looking up things on search engines and getting answers in seconds a possibility, but also made financial transactions easier. There is no longer the need to physically go to a bank because something as simple as a transfer can be done within minutes on your phone anywhere in the world.

Yet the ease and quickness that comes with performing financial transactions means it’s just one more thing scammers use to their advantage. Now scammers can prey on victims and extort money from them faster than ever before. The worst part? They can maintain the cloak of anonymity and even impersonate other people just to keep their real identity a secret.

At Cowrywise we’re consistently committed to ensuring that our customers are able to securely save and invest with us. This means that when fraudulent individuals or groups emerge we prioritize making sure our customers are safe and updated on these existing and emerging threats.

What Is The Scam?

It recently came to our notice that one of these fraudulent threats is a group impersonating Cowrywise on Telegram and WhatsApp. These platforms that can be a great way to connect and network with other financially smart people can also be a hideout for scammers and groups of people looking for potential victims to defraud.

Cowrywise does have an official support group on Telegram and WhatsApp but we do not promise or participate in the following:

• Give 80% interest and your capital paid out after 4 days
• Provide your capital with returns within 45 minutes after investing
• Accept any financial transactions not processed through our official app or web platform
• Offer any special “beginner promos” on investments when you begin using Cowrywise
• Have any other website except Cowrywise.com

How Do These Scammers Operate?

In order to succeed at defrauding their victims, they have taken steps to imitate us by putting our office address and posing as one of our co-founders, Razaq Ahmed. They operate by adding people to the group and posting staged “payouts”.

When you join the group on WhatsApp or Telegram, someone will send you a private message offering you a “beginner investment promo”. In other cases, they send you a broadcast with different “investment packages”.

This promotion involves you putting in a given amount in return for receiving 50%-80% interest and getting your capital back within 45 minutes.

These fraudulent groups understand that you’ll be doubtful and ask other members of the group to share their stories of how it worked for them. They even go as far as sharing fake screenshots of alerts they have received.

Our investigation has also revealed that they have gone a step further to create a fake website to back up their fraudulent venture. This website has no ties to us as a company and is in no way affiliated with us, Cowrywise. We have taken steps to ensure that the website is taken down and reported.

What Has Cowrywise Done About These Security Threats?

Currently, we have taken extensive steps to infiltrate the fake Telegram account. After our investigation, we reported to Telegram who promptly acknowledged our report and shut the Telegram group down.

We have also worked to get the copycat website taken down and it no longer exists. Cowrywise is also in communication with the banks which the impersonators have accounts with to also shut them down.

Frequently we sensitize our users and the public about these threats using various distribution channels at our disposal.

How Can You Stay Safe?

Every day our team strives to create a product that you not only love but is also 100% safe and secure. We understand that given the increasing access to technology, fraudulent individuals and groups will crop up attempting to ride on existing financial products.

Cowrywise will not stop being on the watch to take adequate measures against impersonators and ponzi schemes masquerading as Cowrywise. While we work to prevent these scams from escalating and affecting potential victims, we’ll also continue to alert you to them.

Here are some steps you can take to safeguard yourself, the people around you and also potential victims who may possibly be at risk:

• Ensure you only communicate with Cowrywise support through our official support channels.
• Do not post your private, identifying or sensitive information on public platforms like social media or with anyone.
• Do not carry out any financial transactions outside of the Cowrywise app or website. Disregard any information that instructs you to do so.
• If you establish that the person, group or platform is fraudulent or are suspicious then take steps to reach out to us about it at support@cowrywise.com. It’s great if you include screenshots or more information we can follow up on too!
• Take steps to report the account or group on that platform. Clearly state why you’re reporting and if possible state who they are impersonating or defrauding people.
• Create awareness by sharing with people by using your social media accounts and word of mouth.

Please ensure you do not confront the fraudulent person or group and instead take the necessary steps to report them.

Our official app can be downloaded from Playstore or the App Store for iOS users. Our website is cowrywise.com, Telegram and WhatsApp. We’re also @cowrywise on Instagram and Twitter.