Juicy Fields Cannabis Scam could burn South Africans as they put their hard earned cash into a  weed inspired investment scheme.

So you’ve heard all about The Green Rush and how billions are being made in the legal cannabis industry. But the idea of having to grow your own weed dispensary or starting a canna-centric business from the ground up seems like a lot of work on top of the funds that you would need to invest before seeing a cent of profit in return. Fortunately a company came a long that promised to do all of the hard work for you. Simply give them anything from a couple hundred to a million bucks or more and they would “grow” your money for you. The investment would be used to fund international legal grows and canna centric businesses, while you simply sat back and watched you investment double in a year or less. This is what Juicy Fields offered all size of investors.

Juicy Fields Cannabis Scam Burns South Africans

Anyone who has attended the recent local cannabis expos could not have missed the very large stand of the main event sponsor Juicy Fields. The self proclaimed cannabis crowd growing platform has been trending for all the right reasons, offering an opportunity to invest in cannabis with hands free returns that were almost too large to believe. In fact, I personally could barely hold in a gasp when a lovely young lady showed me their pamphlet. I could easily double my money in a year. It didn’t matter that she was dressed more for the beach than for providing financial advice or that their was nothing behind the first layer of promo material. All that matters was the massive return on investment and the money that I would miss out on by being cautious.

The offer was so attractive that many easily overlooked the obvious red flags. Firstly, you would have to invest by cryptocurrency only and you would be paid out in crypto. Secondly, no documents were required from you. Simply register online, send the crypto and watch your profits grow. It was so easy and the returns were too huge to ignore. This was your chance to get in on the ground level of The Green Rush. So thousands of people got onboard the Juicy Fields train destined for wealth.

And things went well for a while. Sure most of my friends laughed at it for the obvious crypto that it was. But there were also those who couldn’t resist the temptation. Whether it was greed, gullibility or need that drove them to hit to invest their crypto currency. It wasn’t my place to judge. Then this week the drama hit the fan. Little did the investors know that they would wake up to find themselves locked out of their accounts and 99% of the website gone. All social accounts were are also suddenly blank. The OG directors and founders are now in the wind. And so are the billions in crypto.

All of the bosses up in smoke

Alarm bells started to ring a few months ago when regulators in Spain, Germany and The Netherlands warned that the scheme was a possible fraud. That all of their business accounts were registered in tax havens was also a concern. Investors continued to ignore these warnings and celebrated their massive returns. That was until they could no longer access the website or their funds this week. It turns out that many of the Juicy Field directors and managers had quietly jumped ship, with the company’s social media accounts disappearing. Now investors are left without their funds and are unlikely to get any straight answers. With each statement and step from the company raising even more questions and suspicions. Some have speculated that this all part of an exit plan for when the balloon popped.

 

 

It turns out that many of Juicy Fields’ commercial agreements were false. And that the company had recently changed it’s address several times. Some execs have gone so far as to scrub Juicy Fields from their professional profiles. Frankly it is very difficult to figure out who is now in charge of the company or what the future holds for investors. As what appears to be a ponzi scheme is beginning to crumble.

It remains to be seen how The Cannabis Expo handles their biggest sponsor possibly being unmasked as a financial predator. Who may have also duped the Expo organizers themselves. One that targeted the enthusiasm and naivety of the local market. A market that is likely to truly feel the burn of this saga as local business confidence hits all time lows.

Some blame does certainly lay with the investors who blinkered themselves from the obvious warning signs. I just hope that they weren’t gullible or greedy enough to convince their friends and family members to also blindly jump into The Green Rush with them.