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From Gil Durán, San Francisco, CA, US

Justicia Shipena The governor of the Bank of Namibia (BoN), Johannes !Gawaxab, says many Namibians continue to fall victim to investment scams.  Despite ongoing financial literacy efforts by the central bank, he said Namibians often fall victim to scams commonly known as Ponzi schemes. !Gawaxab made the remarks while briefing the parliamentary standing committee on economy and industry, public administration and planning on Tuesday.  During the meeting, he urged lawmakers to educate their constituents about the risks of illegal investment schemes.  The BoN has previously warned about investment scams. In October of last year, BoN issued an alert in which it warned the public about rising fraudulent investment schemes falsely promising financial backing for the country’s development initiatives. At that time, BoN cautioned that these schemes are targeting high-ranking government officials, ministries, traditional leaders, and prominent public figures, exploiting their reputations to lend credibility to deceptive offers. The committee session focused on the bank’s operations, the state of the economy, and related matters. He stressed the importance of community-level awareness, calling on members of parliament to play an active role in protecting citizens from fraudulent financial activities. “The public continues to fall victim to these schemes. We need collective action to raise awareness and protect people’s savings,” said !Gawaxab. The Bank of Namibia is legally required, under the Bank of Namibia Act, to report to Parliament at least once a year on its operations and the state of the economy. The Standing Committee is chaired by Hon. Iipumbu Shiimi. Its mandate is to monitor, investigate, and make recommendations to the National Assembly on matters affecting the economy, public administration, and natural resources. This comes as in April this year, fourteen people accused of running an international online investment scam from Namibia pleaded not guilty to 222 charges in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.  The accused include citizens of China, Singapore, Cuba, and Namibia. They were linked to a scam allegedly operated through Raylon Investment CC, which reportedly defrauded investors of about US$465,400 (N$9 million) by luring victims through fake online profiles to invest in cryptocurrency. The scheme reportedly employed over 150 Namibians before being exposed in October 2023.

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