I got the inspiration to write this post after reading a rather fascinating exchange on a Facebook Group page.
A group member had asked the group to enlighten him on who is the founder of Crowd1.
What followed was a long debate that ended with a rather disappointing anticlimax. You see, it seems that the majority of crowd1 members don’t have a clue about who is Crowd1’s founder…And most of them don’t care.
Nevertheless, that debate left me curious and somewhat excited (I love a good mystery). So I decided to do some cyber-sleuthing to try and find out who’s really behind Crowd1.
…It seems that I had bitten off more than I could chew!
The Usual Suspects.
Trying to find out who the founder of Crowd1 is reminded me of Brian Singer’s movie “The Usual Suspects” (One of my all-time favorites!).
In the movie, Brian Singer presents the viewer with a fictitious character named Keizer Soze, who is, in fact, one of the five main characters. The greatest thrill about watching the movie is in trying to puzzle out which one of them is Keizer Soze.
With Crowd1, you’ve got a situation where the real “Big Kahuna” (…please excuse my mixed movie metaphors,) is hiding under a thick veil of secrecy. None of the Crowd1 websites and official social media pages say much about who is the founder of Crowd1. So, the public’s only option is to speculate.
Now, to avoid getting myself into any legal drama -and in keeping with the theme of the movie – I will not express my opinion on who I think is the founder of Crowd1.
Instead, what I’ll do is give you a line-up of “the usual suspects” – people who have so much influence in Crowd1 that any one of them could be the founder:
- Renz Edgardo (AKA Mr. Renz or simply “Renz”);
- Jonas Eric Werner;
- Johan Staël von Holstein;
- Theodoulos Adamou;
- Stelios Piskopianos.
…You will have to decide which one of these gentlemen could be the founder of Crowd1.
Mr. Renz.
If you’ve seen many of the Crowd1’s videos, you’ll recognize this man. He is a high-ranking member of Crowd1 with the rank of “2 Star President”.
What you may not have known is his full name because in most of the videos he appears in, he often does not introduce himself. When he does, he only calls himself Renz.
The only instance where I could find a full name associated with him is in this training video that was posted on a Facebook Page…
Now, to be honest, I should mention that I found no information that suggests Rens could be Crowd1’s founder. The only reason I included him in this line-up is because of his high ranking position inside of Crowd1.
His position in Crowd1 seems to be that of Global Operations President. He shows up mostly where Crowd1 is “opening” a new office. Other than that, he seems to be a ghost …No Facebook profile, …No Linkedin profile.
Now, to be fair to Renz, maybe he’s just one of those people who (despite his numerous online videos,) values his privacy. That could be the reason he has such a limited online footprint.
However, there’s a recent event that makes his efforts to remain anonymous seem a little bit suspicious…
The Dubai Headquarters Saga.
On 14 October 2019, Jah Ruz – a Dubai resident who goes by the name Bizfriend Jack on YouTube – posted a video in which he shares a video that was sent to him by Renz.
In the video, we see Renz at the address that you see at the bottom of the home page of the Crowd1 website:
He starts off outside the building – in the parking lot – before taking the elevator up to the 34th floor.
Outside Unit No:34, he shows the viewers a sign taped to the door that says “Crowd1″…
The bigger sign you see above the smaller sign says “MORE” because the same address is also the address of the UAE branch of MORE.
According to its website, MORE is “an accounting firm specializing in Tax Accounting, Corporate Services, and Trustee Management”.
In the video, the young man who answers Ren’s knock gives his name as only “Abbi”.
The video then shows us a brief view of the interior before Renz asks Abbie to tell the viewers what their office hours are.
Renz then gives the viewers an open invitation to visit the offices.
“Bizfriend Jack” Pays Crowd1 HQ A Visit.
After viewing the video, “Bizfriend Jack” decided to take up Renz’s invitation to visit Crowd1’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers office. However, when he got there, nobody answered the door to Unit No:3408.
…And the “Crowd1” sign was no longer there…
Now, you could say that “Jack” might have visited at the wrong time…the staff may have been on a lunch-break or something. However, the same thing happened to someone else who tried to visit the Jumeirah Lakes Towers office.
…And this time it was our friend “Jack” who almost got into trouble.
In this video, Jack talks about a threatening call he received from someone from the Dubai Department of Economy.
Apparently, someone who had tried visiting the Crowd1 offices had filed some kind of complaint with the authorities. But since there was no way to get in touch with anyone from Crowd1, they went after the closest person they could find.
You see, “Jack” had created a “Crowd1 Dubai” Facebook Fanpage to market Crowd1. He also put up his number on the page so that people who had questions could contact him.
So, when the Dubai authorities could not reach anyone from Crowd1, they reached out to the creator of Crowd1 Dubai to inform them about the complaint.
You can get the full story from Bizfriend Jack in the video below…
Jonas Eric Werner.
In the comments section of a Youtube video, I came across the following comment, which was in response to a question about who the founder of Crowd1 is.
Now, as I said before, none of the Crowd1 websites say anything about the people behind the business. But after looking at Jonas Eric Werner’s past activities, it’s it is highly probable that he could be Crowd1’s founder.
Synkronice and Spinglo…Crowd1 1.0?
Jonas used to be with Synkronice. If this video in which we see him introducing the then CEO of Synkronise and Spinglo is anything to go by, he certainly played a major role in Synkronice.
When you look at the Synkronice business model, you’ll find that it was almost a replica of Crowd1. Just take a look at this screenshot of a post on Synkronice’s FB page:
Sounds familiar?
How ’bout this one:
Pointing out the many similarities between Sinkronice and Crowd1 will make this post much longer than it should – and it’s already too long.
What you should be aware of, is that Synkronice only operated for three years before the whole scheme fell apart. The last time the Synkronice and Spinglo websites were live was in April 2013. (If you’re interested in what the Synkronice official website looked like, you can see it at http://web.archive.org).
It is not clear exactly when Synkronice went bust, but judging from the last post on their Facebook page, it seems like 2012 was the last year they were in business.
In January 2013, there were these kinds of complaints from people who had invested in the scheme…
Note the mention of Jonas in the first complaint as well as this article about the arrest mentioned in the same complaint.
3. Johan Staël von Holstein.
On 26 September 2019, a Crowd1 member published this post on the MLM Gateway website. In it, he wrote:
“…Watch this space because Johan Stael von Holstein is our new CEO!”
According to Wikipedia, Lars Johan Magnus Staël von Holstein is a Swedish entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author who co-founded dot-com companies such as Icon Medialab and LetsBuyIt during the early “dot-com” boom in Sweden.
His online footprint seems to be quite substantial, and he is somewhat of an entrepreneur celebrity.
I came across many articles online that had nothing but praises for Von Holstein.
However, …
A deeper look into his past business activities produced some information that is a bit …worrying.
Maskot for hire?
It seems that Von Holstein was also involved in the Synkronice/Spinglo scheme.
I discovered this video in which he was introduced as Chief Visionary Officer of Spinglo.
Before I saw this video, I had never heard of a CVO title…So I looked it up.
According to Wikipedia, “A chief visionary officer or chief vision officer (CVO) is an executive function in a company like CEO or COO. The title is sometimes used to formalize a high-level advisory position and other times used to define a higher ranking position than that held by the CEO”.
So, his position at Spinglo was higher than that of the CEO…
This means that he was responsible for a lot of important business decisions there. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean he was the “founder” of the company. He only got involved with Spinglo right at the end. I could not find any mention of Von Holstein’s involvement with Spinglo or Synkronice before May 2012 – a few months before it shut down.
The same can be said of his involvement with Crowd1…
The earliest mention I could find of Von Holstein in association with Crowd1 is in this video in which he is being introduced as Crowd1’s CEO. (Note that the person introducing Von Holstein as “colleague and friend for …like …fifteen years”, is none other than our friend Jonas Eric Werner)…
This was three years since the founding of Crowd1 and more than a year since the Crowd1 website went live in August of 2018.
So, where was Von Holstein all this time?
Was he only brought in to bring some credibility to Crowd1?
…It certainly seems so.
4. Theodoulos Adamou.
According to this Company Profile on Hoovers.com, Theodoulos Adamou is the Secretary of CROWD 1 NETWORK EUROPE LTD.
However, you will not find his name mentioned anywhere else.
According to his website, “Theodoulos Adamou is a lawyer based in Limassol Cyprus. His fields of expertise cover both litigation and corporate services.”
At first glance, it might look like Adamou’s role in Crowd1 is a minor one. However, it is important to note that he’s one of only two people who appear on Crowd1 Network Europe’s company profile.
If you did a Crowd1 company profile lookup now on opencorporates.com, you’d find that Mr. Adamou no longer holds the title of secretary in Crowd1 Network Europe. The person holding that title now is a Mr. Piskopianos Stelios, who now occupies both the Director’s seat as well as the Secretary seat…
5. Piskopianos Stelios.
According to a recent update on the opencorporates.com, website, Stelios Piskopianos is both Director and Secretary of Crowd1 Network Europe…
And if you ran a Whois inquiry on the Crowd1.com website, you’ll find that Stelios is listed as the owner of the website.
…In fact, if you were to type them in one-by-one, you will find that Stelios is registered as the owner of all Crowd1 websites…
AffilGO …
MIGGSTER, …
…as well as MyGritHub, …
When you consider this fact – that all Crowd1’s websites are registered in his name – surely that makes him the founder of Crowd1. Right?
Is Stelios Piskopianos The Founder Of Crowd1?
Stelios has a Linkedin profile that links him to various companies. But the most interesting ones are AOS Fluency Ltd and Northfield International Limited…Interesting because they’re the only two where he had a Director’s title.
A search for AOS Fluency reveals that Stelios was the company’s Director and that he founded the company in Dec 2007. However, the company went into liquidation in January 2016.
The link to AOS Fluency’s website from Stelios’ Linkedin page will lead you nowhere as the website no longer exists. However, there’s an archive of the old website that you can view here.
The website lists him as Finance Director…
In the other company – Northfield International Ltd – Stelios is listed as both Director and Secretary.
There are many other companies with the name “Northfield International”. So, I,m not sure if Stelios’ Northfield had a web address.
What’s strange is that there is ZERO mention of his involvement in Crowd1.
So, if Stelios is Crowd1’s Director, why is his involvement with Crowd1 not public?
…Mmmmm!
So, who’s the real founder of Crowd1?
If you were reading this post with the hope of finding an answer to this question, I’m sorry to have to disappoint you.
The truth is…I also don’t know.
You see, after going into every “rabbit-hole” I could find online, I still can’t tell you – beyond any reasonable doubt – who the founder of Crowd1 is.
…I’ll leave that up to you to decide.
I’ll also leave you with this quote from Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey) from the movie:
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
HI,
THIS IS THE INFORMATION YOU CAN CONSIDER
https://www.einforma.com/informacion-empresa/global-alleal
1️⃣The headquarters of Crowd1 moves from Dubai to Spain – the reason is that it is located in a country where the law is always monitored, especially tax law and Europe is the country that will make Crowd1 a smart company. the most transparent.
Due to the movement and compliance with the country’s Charter, Crowd1 was registered under a new name – Impact Crowd Technology SL, tax code (NIF): B88429436
P.S. The name change does not affect the company, still known as Crowd1 – please note:
2️⃣ All Crowd1 CEOs are in Durban so we know who is behind our company.
The company founder, Jonas Eric Werner, and the entire management team were introduced to us.
3️⃣ The goal is to turn Crowd1 into a public company and turn it into Unicorn = a company worth more than 1 billion dollars
Because, CEO Johan Stael von Holstein has experience creating 3 Unicorns
I appreciate you reading my post, David. However, I do not understand the point you’re trying to make here…
The Dubai HQ thing was just a smoke-screen. Those offices belonged to MORE Group. The only reason they moved to Madrid was to find a new address to put on their website.
…And guess who owns IMPACT CROWD TECHNOLOGY SL?… Von Holstein!
When you look up IMPACT CROWD TECHNOLOGY SL, you’ll find that it has 1) No employees; 2)No CIF…3) No Contact numbers 4)No website…etc.
And I’m not sure what “unicorns” you’re referring to here, but please go back and find out what happened to the “unicorns” that Von Holstein built…and what his role was in the fates of said “unicorns”
Thanks badisaboikanyo for inspiring me to finish this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfsoaC2_Mpo
Crowd1 Scam 99% of investors risk losing money
Durban South Africa? I was super Amped to join the Crowd1 team, but reading about “Jonar” being arrested, and all the scammers in the post made me abit sceptic.. So I guess I’ll just go through some more reviews before investing
Jonas Eric Werner is founder.
Do you have anything to back up your claim, Le?
And what about this Piskopianos character? …What do you think his role is in the whole scheme?
I don’t buy into that story that he’s just a “Pansy” who was “dupped” by Jonas into registering the Crowd1 websites under his name. Unless we’re saying Stelios Piscopianos is a fictitious character who doesn’t exist in real life.
…Which would make this shady scheme even shadier.
I agree with you man👍… The Dubai offices threw me off, now hearing the Founder is from Durban, I thought his from Sweden 🙆🏽♂️
That comment from David is false – There is no evidence to support it.
Badisa, that is how they do these things. Those Cypriots are shady lawyers/accountants providing services related to the creation and liquidation of corporate structures. Jonas Werner has a long history of involvement in scams like these, he (and probably some of his fellow con-artists) is by far the most probable candidate to be the de facto founder. On paper, it will be one of the Cypriots.
Love it! It’s like a spy debrief!
Thanks, Ludolfyn …You Rock!
Erick Jonas is the founder, I think the domain was bought at a certain price and they didn’t change it. If you look at when was it registered you can see that it is an old domain and the company came to existed 2019. According to how Spinglo and Synkrone operated you can see that the same concept is used in Crowd1. And I was heard in Von Holstein mentioning that Eric called him saying “I have found a good idea and this one will work” so this clearly means Eric and Holstein have known each other via that Spinglo….
So the aim in Crowd1 was earn bonuses from affiliated gaming website and then share with members in crowd1, if you go to any gambling website you will see a part that says “become Affiliate” from there you can add your own website or company, so that’s what crowd1 Affligo website comes in, but I think that didn’t work because ever since it was launched in other countries is has never generated any income. Now they are trying to bring Lotto saga, but before they once announced another lottery company being their partner, claiming they will be selling lottery tickets. In all i can say is that the company might had good intention, but they missed the point, as they start to appear as under ICT (Impact Crowd Technology) you can see there they still mention that they still going go recruit other people to join their team, like legal team etc, and this company has majority in South Africa.
Thanks for your comment, Pride.
The obvious passion in your response to my blog post tells me that you’re a Crowd1 “member”?
I also appreciate how you’re standing up for what you believe that Crowd1 is a legit Business Opportunity. However, there are a few points in your statement that I would like to address:
#1.You say: “Erick Jonas is the founder… and the company came to existed 2019”.
This statement supports my argument that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to “Who really founded Crowd1”. You see, Crowd1 didn’t come into existence in 2019 as you claim…they were already operating way back in 2016. In fact, according to this archived Crowd1 web page, their Pre-Launch Phase started on 15th June 2016.
I can understand how most of those who believe that Jonas is the founder, would think that Crowd1 started in 2019. You see, before 2019 there doesn’t seem to be any link between Jonas and Crowd1. Even on his personal social media profiles the earliest post that mentions Crowd1 was in 2019.
So, it would seem that Jonas Eric Werner only got involved with Crowd1 in 2019. He then called his old buddy from Synkronice – Von Holstein – who signed up as CEO around mid-2019.
The question is: Who was running Crowd1 from 2016 to late 2018 – before Jonas Werner and Von Holstein got there?
#2.You also say: “According to how Spinglo and Synkrone operated you can see that the same concept is used in Crowd1”.
This is what worries me the most about Crowd1. If the same concept that was used in the Synkronice venture is used in Crowd1, what’s preventing Crowd1 – and it’s members – from meeting the same fate as Synkronice/Spinglo?
#3. You also say: “The aim in Crowd1 was to earn bonuses from affiliated gaming websites and then share with members in crowd1”.
This is what Crowd1 originally promised members when they were starting up (during their pre-launch phase). They were in the process off “Establishing Partnerships” with Onli Gambling businesses like Betway, ComeOn!, Codere, and Premier Bet. So, Crowd1 members bought into Crowd1 thinking that their “Owner Rights” would entitle them to a share of these “Partners” profits. However, when the first partnerships were announced, members suddenly discovered that their “Owner Rights” only entitled them to “Play” with these “Partners”. Plus, they would also have to recruit gamblers into these online gambling platforms to get any commissions from them.
Badisa!
I came across your article by accident from a comment on fb!!
But JUST had 2 say I couldn’t stop reading- love how you investigate and create the entire picture .
Ps – I don’t know shit about ANY of this. Just loved reading it.
Its amazing that you “couldn’t stop reading”…Nobody reads nowadays!
What T is saying is true! One can not stop reading what you wrote. I would love to read more of your art.
Thank you i just speak some members of Crowd1 i can not belive that they belive this scam so many idiots around as they belive von Holstein is like god he just wants to help simple people, they never before knew even heard about this person but now they belive all this scam more than god. They already try to say me that even they got esrn some money in Crowd 1 and they could transfer it to theirs bank accounts and bitcoin:)
I joined crowd1 6 days ago. I wished I had read your column before joining. Anyway, I think the questionable points you brought up are logical and agreeable. There is a high probability that Crowd is a remake version of Spinglo and Synkrone which most probably will have the same fate as well. The ambiguity of the Management personalities, the vague existence of Head office/employees/operation, Source of revenue/income from their claimed income generating Miggsters/Affilgo flaform seems a setup the company is operating and earning. But I went to HP of Miggsters and it is never interactive, It does show anything, you can played, view or whatsoever can be monetised . No actual mobile games developed, launched, or being market. so questions on how the it is earning is quiet intriguing. On the other hand, Affilgo HP is showing a partnership several Gambling companies but questions if indeed they are legitimate business partnership and if indeed this partnership draws revenue for CIT/Crowd1. Anyway I only bought the white 99eur package and has made ready to accept whatever may happen. But definitely will stay for a while to validate all this things.
Hi, (FFR609?). Thanks for your comment. Your IP Adress tells me you’re in Tokyo, Japan but these things are not always accurate (…mine says I’m in the USA when I’m in South Africa). Anyway…For us here in South Africa 99Eur is about 2000 Rands. That’s a lot of money. I should think 99Eur is also a lot in your currency as well. I just hope that you at least get most of it back (I heard there’s a Payday coming up for you guys).
…I just hope they don’t postpone again!
Good Luck.
Really? They postpone pay days?😢
LOL!
Hi Badisa
Trust you are well?
This is one of the most interesting articles I came across in my venture to discover the truth behind this “investment Scheme”.
The main issue that I still do not have answers to is the fact that no one can explain where the current revenue comes from, the Crowd1 members claim to make a lot of money and this is concerning as no current successful and long standing business with existing revenue can match the payments done by this scheme. The scheme is also so new, that it can surely not pay out at such a rate even if their products were launched. The only explanation I can come to based on my own opinion, is from recruitment, which in its own is illegal in most countries.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Hi, Darae. Thanks for your contribution.
If you’ve been following Crowd1 for a while, you’d see how they frequently change their story:
…If you go onto the Crowd1.com home-page now, you’ll find that they have removed all traces of AffilGo and Miggster.
So, what’s their source of revenue?
…New Recruits!
That’s why they recently gave their existing members Free White Packages. These Free Packages are meant to be used for recruiting more people. The new people will have to recruit if they want to get paid. Can you imagine how much money C1 would if 500 000 Crowd1 members managed to recruit at least one more?
My problem with Crowd1 is that it is a “Carbon-Copy” of a failed Ponzi Scheme (Synkronice/Spinglo)… which both Jonas Werner and Von Holstein were involved in.
thanks for this helpful info sir. i almost got scam on this thing. so sad, i have friends already deceived by this scam. allow me to copy the link of this site sir to help the awareness of my countrymen. Thank you! God bless!
Hi, Jon. I’m glad to be of service. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to post a comment.
Badisa, I enjoyed reading this informative article. I came across your page whilst trying to do my own search on the origins and business model of Crowd1.
Thank you for sharing your findings.
Hi, Katshie. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Bidasa, this is the first time I enjoyed reading an article. You’ve presented several factual references which we can articulate in to.
Anyways, C1 is also starting to become popular here in the Philippines. One of my friend is also inviting and convincing me to join but I was really suspicious. Your article really did enlightened me that I shouldn’t really invest into something like this. And the fact that being a member doesn’t guarantee your security or a contract and you have no clue who to blame when everything just fall apart.
I will definitely share this to my friends. Thank you for writing this.
I appreciate your stopping by, Friend. Spread the word.
Yhoo I hardly google these schemes but this one I got goosebumps and decided to study more about it before introducing it to people, I pray I get my R1800 back 🙊 but I am glad I googled before investing another R3700 to upgrade. I will sure tell the person who introduced me to look into this. Thanks man for this fruitful information.
Hi, Miss P. Thanks for your contribution to the conversation. I believe the only way you can get your R1800 back is by selling the package to someone else. So, it looks like you will have to go recruit after all…Eish!
True that…the only way to get it back is by deceiving and recruiting someone else and that’s a scary thought, especially when you know this truth – which I came to learn of this morning through someone I follow on Twitter. I also joined few months ago to support my nagging sister (I’m dead if she gets to see this description) who’s a recruiter.
Even though I was sceptical I joined still. Not hoping to get anything back but its interesting to note how their system is so flawed. I was on gold status when I joined with R1800 and because I didn’t upgrade I’m no on zero…the thought can one can just lose their hard earned money like that is beyond me !!!!
One can only hope the promised ‘payback’ will happen sooner before its anticipated shutdown.
Hey Tanki, thanks for your comment. There’s a lot of people like you who joined Crowd1 in support of a friend or a family member. Sadly, most of you will come out of this experience with a negative bias against anything Network-Marketing-related. I just hope that you understand that Crowd1 is not representative of all Network Marketing or Multi-Level Marketing.
Interesting!
I read even the comments!
I’m a member, and this is a bunch of information.
Hi Badisa, a very informative article indeed! Just like someone who has already mentioned before, I just couldn’t stop reading.
Thank you.
Hello Badisa,
Wow!!! Dis piece of article is highly informative and enlightening. I was invited by an associate and someone i respect to a biz presentation where i was introduced to C1. Never heard or saw it anywhere before. D speaker appeared glamorous presenting out-of-this-world opportunity 4 financial upgrade 2ru C1, but gave no room 4 Q&A during the presentation except 4 one on one afterwards. Dis made me googled about C1 4 more info, and I’m so glad i stumbled on your article. I definitely won’t throw caution to the wind as i was already soliciting 4 funds 2 sign up. I must also warn my associate and bring dis veritable resource to his knowledge.
Thank you and keep such researches coming.
Hi Badisa
Interesting read, well written but sadly full of half truths. I’m worried that people are deciding to believe everything you have written although some of it isn’t entirely true. I am a member of Crowd1 and I also took time doing some due diligence before joining. Like any other business, risk is always a factor.
Maybe you should also read how Facebook came about, it seems these tech/online companies go through a lot of ‘trial and error’ before they find their real identity. Another thing the combination of crowd marketing and network marketing in one business model is new and unique and it will take Crowd1 to prove that it can be done successfully. So I suggest you watch this space…
Hi, Lungi. Thanks for adding your voice to the conversation.
But, please enlighten us: What is “Crowd Marketing”?
I don’t see any similarities between Facebook and what we now call “Crowd1”. Facebook did not change its name numerous times before they “found their real identity”.
Jonas Eric Werner and Johan Von Holstein, however, have been involved in similar schemes that have collapsed.
And every time the scheme collapses, they just bring it back under a new name:
…That was then …This is now…
https://youtu.be/vQk7RwzA_To
If you can, could you please point out the “half-truths” that you mention in your comment?
Good read, what people need to understand is that there is no free, easy money and also investment that asks you to recruit members, run for your life. Why don’t buy shares from a legit business that is trading and registered in the stock markets.
What was the half truths?
I wish I had read this before investing. I didn’t think much because a close friend of mine encouraged me to join. Now he wants me to get other members. But I wanted to make sure before I pull others in here. I don’t think I will encourage anyone to invest.
When we see these kinds of skims we try to tell ourself it is possible even though we find it difficult to believe. I think it’s the greed in us that motivates us. Hope not to do it again.😣
Thanks for informative article.
Thanks for your comment Nrm(?). My advice to you would be to try and withdraw whatever you can while you still can. Good Luck!
Hi Badisa,
Your article is so enlightening and tbh you have shade light to every confusion I had on c1. I’m a person that likes to research a lot and read almost all articles that come my way And I came across this your master piece I wish I had came across it before I joined c1 but unfortunately I’m a bit late. The recruiters of c1 now don’t directly tells you that you have to recruit anyone before you can get you pay and again the hate to use the word investment or buying of share. And that attitude makes me very curious of how then will you be getting paid? They used the tactic of buying a package which most common is the educational package which till date of me joining I don’t see or heard of any education books, audiobook or journals that will help me in their back office as they claimed. And every week a person claimed c1 rewards which is only 0.25 or 2.25 worth of a Euro I guess. So the question here is why on earth will I give €99 for 2.25 euro? Why can’t I keep my 99 euros safe with me. And they way they did it to make you see like is an opportunity given to you hahahah. I really regret joining c1 and Thank God since I was never convince about the program I refused to invite anyone coz I don’t someone to call victim of scam. And since I didn’t invite anyone till date I did not earn anything out of. I’m really advising anyone to not join c1 is a scam.
Hi, Layla (Lovely name,)don’t be too hard on yourself…Their sales pitch was very enticing. Just be grateful you didn’t risk valuable relationships by bringing your friends or family into the scheme.
Good read. I’ve been doing some research on Crowd1.I have read on a review that Von Holstein is no longer CEO of Impact Crowd Technology in Spain since March 2020. A link was posted with a registrar notice in Spanish stating this but have still seen him on videos . So what is happening? Just a cover up or does he not want to be implicated. Also if you read their T&C’s (30 odd pages)it’s frightening e.g. A member can’t contact any of their affiliates and if you do so, will have your account cancelled and no refund. They can cancel account at any time and no refund or payouts and if you cancel no refund or payouts.In fact you have no legal recourse on them whatsoever etc etc. It makes me think and wonder how many members have actually read it. Also you do not seem to have owner rights/shares everything has been changed to points. Wondering whether this company can actually be legit or nothing but a sophisticated Pyramid or Ponzi Scheme.
Hi, Hazel. You make a good observation about Von Holstein. In fact, his appointment as Crowd1’s CEO was the inspiration behind my blog post. You see, before that announcement in September 2019, many of us were scratching our heads trying to figure out who was behind Crowd1…And then, all of sudden, we were given Von Holstein on a plate: https://www.facebook.com/crowd1gambling/posts/1476267472498076.
But, – as I mentioned in the post – he’s played this role before. If you take a look at his track record – especially his tendency to always make an exit just before a business he’s involved in collapses – you can “bet your bottom Dollar” something major is about to happen with Crowd1.
If I was with Crowd1, I’d be really worried.
can you give me the link that Von Holstein is no longer the CEO of Impact Crowd Technology in Spain as of March 2020
Well, you won’t find a site that says Von Holstein has resigned or something, but ask yourself: When last did you see Von Holstein promoting Crowd1?
…And if look at Impact Crowd Technology’s recent Company Profile, you’ll find that Von Holstein is no longer listed… http://www.infocif.es/ficha-empresa/impact-crowd-technology-sl
…Read between the lines.
thank you. May I use your material to warn people in my country?
I wish i had read this before committing to joining C1. I still have a lot of questions as a member and no one who have answers. There is a lot of grey areas and also restrictions that are not clear. I would not introduce anyone to the scheme. I will not make noise about it too. I will keep reading about it and finding more answers to my questions (inside info).
Hi, Sifiso. If you have questions, maybe this could be the best platform to get them answered. Why don’t you ask your questions here? Maybe one of the other readers will give you answers.
I joined this C1 in believing that I will be able to sell my rewards at €2 on June 15. I have the big package of Titanium and have over 12000 Rewards.i personally sponsored or recruited 22 people, and these people also joined in other people if I’m to count we are over 150 in my team but I was only paid €12, my downliners are furious, others are demanding their money back. I have single parents who feel they were robbed. if I had read this before I wouldn’t have joined. I will never recruit in this business ever. All they tell you is recruit and get paid. It’s a pyramid scheme the top benefits and the bottom suffers . Some of my downliners were paid .14cents it’s not fair
WOW, Thanks a lot for such timely information! I had joined C1 to support my mom in Russia and was about to upgrade to gold package – I got so impressed with a feedback of Russian directors and their latest paycheques. They all anticipate some amazing news to be announced 9n July 4th . What made me suspicious was all those crazy payment figures that reminded me rather horrible and shamedul story with another “MLM”. I must say, Russian structure has grown so much and if I deliver my warning message , they would rather beat me to death than admit another dissapointment )). Best I can do is hold my mom’s hand to prevent her from inviting others. I am based in Dubai and can actually pay a visit to More Group to follow up on the story.
Eu realmente gostei muito do conteúdo nem sei se não fosse por você poderia ter mente aberta sobre crowd1; na verdade existem muitas reclamações cá em Moçambique e muitos que entraram primeiro na crowd 1 tentam ter resposta sem bases, é quando ontem publicaram num grupo o nome do CO Jonas werner (e para muitos essa é a prova de que a c1 veio para ficar) é quando decidí pesquisar sobre ele e por sorte entrei no seu artigo…minha mãe gastou muito e ainda estava disponível a gastar mais porque lhe deram propostas invejáveis e mensalmente queria pelo menos enquadrar um membro da família…é pena que eu já havia convidado um membro e muitos estavam disponíveis mas eu disse basta…Obrigado
Oi, Meque. Obrigado por postar um comentário. Estou feliz por ter sido útil
… Só espero que sua mãe não acabe perdendo muito dinheiro nesse golpe.
This post is absolutely brilliant! Whilst I’m not a victim to Crowd1, I know someone that is utterly brainwashed by this scam, and want to try and help him. I’ve seen pyramid schemes before, my question is: Why are they so prevalent in South Africa?
Hi, Tee. Thanks for adding your voice to this conversation. You know, I would also like to know why my people are so gullible when it comes to these Ponzi Scams. Remember this:
I just read the article and I am feeling more enlightened and still worried cause I just joined c1 promoted it and I stumbled on this,it’s confusing but I’ll still keep doing my research. Thanks !
Thank you for doing all these research.
The truth will always reveal itself, we just need to be open minded enough to see it.
An interesting thing I noted from friends that are members now promoting a C1 debit card, made me do some research myself. Not nearly as intensive as yours, but worth a mention.
What I found was that Jonas Werner worked with Opn- Sitetalk (another scam) which became a part of OneCoin in 2016, they also offered an Union pay debit card which was absolutely BS, Interestingly this was yet again a major scam….
Now Dr Raju has disappeared as a fugitive in 2017, know as the “CryptoQueen”…… makes you wonder…..
Hi, Nicky. Great info. Thanks for sharing.
This is Brilliant.
Thank you Badisa for your thorough research into this.
While I was researching into crowd1, I also found this page. https://medium.com/@jkou70426/johan-stael-and-his-purchased-leadership-43cf8ef44de7
Think someone has copied and pasted your article.
Am scared 🙈very scared cz I encouraged my mum to join me.she invested her cash to get TITANIUM level n hopefully we don’t loose.
Hi badisa,
very good insights, agin just visited c1 today and the address is back to Dubai and not spain, They also do not have licensed company in Philippine, not in Dubai as C1, what’s going on?🤷♀️
And it is right based on my friend who is a member, no cash rewards for people who joins unless you get members to join in your leadership team.
Basically, you are earning from people that you bring in, and if you do not get any membership below you, then you don’t get any cash reward.
Pls keep writing about this and hope that many others can see this.
More power
Thanks for the info.I joined Crowd1 November 2019 with R1800.Upgraded with R3700 .My husband and daughter joibed each R1800.I cry for that money because i want out and there is no way out.False info was given to recruit us.We dont have anything to stand on.We are starters .There are various levels.Starters dont earn.People earn big here and those are the ones who joined before us.So it will be like this until collapse.People on lower levels dont earn.Why?Because they have not brought people to the business.I regret .Close to R10 000 spent in CROWD1 and we never going to get it back.
Thank you so much on making all the information about crowd1 much easier to understand. Me and my friend are constantly trying to stop other friends from joining but its always to late.
Hi, Myburgh. Thanks for your contribution. Glad to be of service.
Thanks for the information. They are doing the same here in Kenya and having been in some of the schemes I never believed that it’s genuine..it’s purely a scam
Hi Badisa. I wish I could explain how much I enjoyed your post. I randomly stumbled upon this page while doing my own research into crowd1. Love the amount of investigation you did. Do you have similar content to this post? Would definitely like to read more or about the people behind other MLM/ ponzi scams.
I’ve been doing my own investigation into the people behind an other MLM called Karatbars, and I do enjoy going down these “rabbit holes”. I’m not an investigator (work in tech) but this is more of a hobby after hours. It’s sad to see how these con-artist live million-dollar lifestyles while selling vaporware.
What bewilders me is the similarities between MLM scam. I’m not just referring to the process that requires people to recruit others, but things like:
* The total amount of false content they publish online. From fake websites to fake youtube channels, that recommends their “products”.
* They always sell products that does not exist yet.
* They use vague copy-content which never makes sense, but includes tech related words.
* Their affiliates or customers is always aggressive towards any form of critique .
It’s like they all follow the exact same “business model” or do you think these con-artists are merely copying each other’s “business models”?
P.S. great job on your site’s UI and UX. Nice site
Hey David. Thanks for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment. And you’re right about the similarities between these scams. My only wish is for people to start listening to that little inner voice that tells you “Woh, careful!”. A lot of people who joined Crowd1 did so despite having doubts about it…When a little due diligence would have revealed the shady past of the guys behind it.
Now they deny that there is any income they receive from South Africa, they also not mention gambling and gaming which was used to build their scam.
https://vimeo.com/441606178/f263fe3ebe/comments
Now it goes to ask question who owns my Grithub
Hey, Pride. I also saw that video…Funny. The gambling angle was just a “carrot-stick” to get people to invest. And with regards to mygrithub.com and all the other Crowd1 websites, here’s something that might be of interrest to you…
Badisa, as you suspected this Renz Edgardo, or Renz Eduardo is trading under an alias. His real name, or at least the name he used to go by, is Renze Deelstra. He has been involved in pyramid schemes at least since the late 1990s in The Netherlands, most notably Vanilla – a massive German pyramid scheme – and most recently Flexkom. Buyer beware.
https://www.businessforhome.org/2020/05/renze-deelstra-from-the-netherlands-achieves-presidential-rank-at-crowd1/
Thanks for the info, Ted. I thought it strange that in most of the videos Renz was in, these guys called themselves Mister “So-and-so”, no surnames…It was “Mister Renz” and the South African guy was “Mister Simba”…Now, it makes sense.
Well worth the read. You have given an excellent synopsis and raised some very cardinal points.
C1 is growing stronger in Nigeria and i even have a kid brother who is in to this dangerous scheme and he is so confident and passionate about it and i can’t even talk him out of it. He has tried to recruit me in to the system but i don’t feel ok with it due to ambiguous nature of the biz model and the marketing plan. Being an experience networker i know expertly what to look for before i join any MLM related company and besides i appreciate the biz model that clearly draw the line between active business partnership and investment platform.
It is always better and saver to think and do a detailed research before investing or starting out new biz especially the likes of direct selling biz that involves risking your reputation and integrity.
The only reason that will make pyramid scheme to continue thriving and made away with peoples’ money is greed and share laziness. Any investment offer that promise them to put money and wait for reward is
a go with average minded people but they fail to realise that there is no easy way any where, if it were to be easy everyone who have done it. You have to be courageous and be determined to put in the level of efforts that matches your dream and desire. People should have learnt their lesson by now that true financial investment can only earn realistic returns. Any forms of investment scheme promising unrealistic ROI should be ignore but why can’t people ignore it? It is because they want to earn money for work not done. Why can’t People invest and earn normal return? why can’t they buy stock and hold it or invest in real estate as joint partners or individuals or invest in other regular financial instruments? They lack the patience to wait and put in the money to work. They want to eat their cake and have it. The corn artist understand this weakness in common people so they capitalize on it and use it to swindle them .
They entice people with fancy and unrealistic ROI in exchange for putting their hard earn money to work which of course they will lose everything in the end. All that C1 has to offer is a replical of a failed experiment to scam new victims who no nothing about their biz history and anticident.Some people who have experience regarding the scam of this nature knew that is doomed to fail but they just want to getting first to make money at the expense of the novice that will came later.
My invitation is simple; Learn, read, do research often, be wiser and be smarter and let good moral values be your guiding principle in anything you want to do in life, if majority of us can comply with this, the ripple effect will be huge and to tame the criminal elements will happen naturally. What other choice do they have if their scheme don’t sell again? We are the one making them rich and popular because we patronise their shit. think about it.