S'pore content creator Tyen Rasif nearly joined Nanning pyramid scheme, was asked to invest S$18,000

Amid reports about Singaporeans getting lured into a suspected pyramid scheme in China, content creator and personal trainer Tyen Rasif took to social media to share her personal experience where she "almost got scammed" into joining it.

In a video posted on Sep. 10, Rasif said that she was invited on a trip to Nanning, the capital of China's Guangxi region, by a friend in 2018.

When she got there, she was brought to homes and cafes where "people in the community" explained to her the "business opportunity" of investing in Nanning's development.

These people were all Singaporeans, she told Mothership.

Rasif, who is 31 now, was only 23 at the time.

On Sep. 4, the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced that 52 Singaporeans were arrested and detained in Guangxi for suspected pyramid scheme activities and related offences.

Similar to Rasif, several other Singaporeans invited to Nanning previously told the media they were introduced to an investment opportunity linked to the city's development.

They later suspected it was a pyramid scheme, but not before some had already invested thousands.

Out of curiosity

The friend who invited Rasif to Nanning knew she had "zero interest" in investing in China, she said in her video.

Rasif told Mothership that this friend was not part of the programme, and she had also heard about it from a few other people at the time.

She decided to go on the trip because she was curious.

She was sceptical about the programme, but she wanted to document the "initiation process" and meet other Singaporeans who decided to move to China.

Plus, the trip was free — all expenses apart from her flight were covered by the programme organisers.

How the scheme works

Rasif said her experience on the trip "blew her mind".

The people behind the programme described Nanning as "the new Shenzhen" and "the city worth investing in", and showed her "propaganda videos" highlighting its supposed success.

To join the programme, she would have to buy shares at about S$18,000.

She would then have to recruit two new people into the programme, and they would then each bring in more recruits.

"And then you would earn commission off the people underneath you," she said.

Rasif then raised the possibility of starting a business in China without joining this community.

The organisers' response was that it would be difficult to do so without the right connections.

"They can be very convincing, but my intuition told me otherwise," she said.

She told Mothership she was suspicious from the beginning and did not invest any money.

She found it questionable that she needed to put down a deposit to secure a membership spot.

In her video, Rasif described visiting a big luxury shopping mall that was empty, like a "ghost town", which also appeared to have raised her suspicions.

Not only the gullible and vulnerable

The programme organisers eventually realised Rasif was not intending to invest, and gave up on trying to persuade her.

But she knew that many people lost money from the scheme.

"They are very convincing," she told Mothership. "I can see why people would be swayed to joining because it’s not just an investment opportunity, it’s an exciting chance to join a network outside Singapore."

It did not attract her, however.

"Because what was I buying? A membership? A network? Didn’t make sense to me then."

Through this experience, she observed that such schemes do not necessarily only target the gullible and vulnerable.

"A lot of these people are educated professionals who genuinely believe that they were building a better future in a different city," she said in her video.

She told Mothership she decided to share her story now to warn others against buying into similar "scam schemes".

She was surprised when the alleged Nanning pyramid scheme made the news.

"I'm surprised they are still running it and it’s bigger than ever," she said. "I thought [it] would have ended during the Covid-19 pandemic."

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