Capital Bancorp Advises Investors against Ponzi Schemes

By Goddy Egene

Capital Bancorp Plc, a diversified financial services group, has advised the investing public to be wary of companies that offer unrealistic returns on investment to defraud unsuspecting investors.

The Capital Bancorp gave the advice against the backdrop of a publication that guarantees 100 per cent return on investment, being offered by a company impersonating it through a website: capitalbancorppublicltd.com. The information is hosted on a website owned by a company called NameCheap, based in Panama.

The management of Capital Bancorp said in a statement explained that only a money doubling scheme could guarantee such huge returns being offered on the website.

“The management and directors of Capital Bancorp Plc call the attention of the general public, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE), NASD Plc, FMDQ Plc and other financial institutions, the Police and EFCC to a company using a website address of capitalbancorppublicltd.com. claiming to be and impersonating Capital Bancorp Plc. The website is a vehicle designed to defraud members of the public.

“Those familiar with Capital Bancorp Plc will easily recognise that the offers are outside the operational mode of Capital Bancorp Plc which in its 33 years of operations has never been known to offer reckless investment instruments, not even in the heydays of finance houses with colourful operators as Forum and Umanah Umanah and such-like bogus finance houses. Capital Bancorp true to its rational and professional management has always survived and indeed prospered through all the turbulent periods in the financial services industry in the last 27 years,” the firm said.

According to Capital Bancorp, the company, which has no physical address, has a mobile phone number, noting that that the company probably exists only on the internet as it is not in any way affiliated with or related to Capital Bancorp Plc.

Capital Bancorp explained that is an ordinary and dealing member of the NSE, a participating institution in NASD Plc and registered by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as issuing house and broker dealer.

“We are in good standing with all our regulators and advise members of the public to investigate the bona fides of all institutions offering them services.

Capital Bancorp outside its own Commercial Paper Issues, third party Commercial Paper Issues, Federal, State and Corporate Bond offerings offer no guaranteed returns on any investment,” it said.