Longrich swindled Batswana of millions
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday October 21, 2016 18:02
Mmegi has learnt that the Chinese have decided to hire private investigators in a bid to clear the name of their multi-million dollar business, which has been in existence for 30 years.
According to one of the victims (Marea*), the Chinese took the matter very seriously to an extent that they froze Botswana operations and have summoned Elinah and her supervisor Jeff Ho-Ming, who was the general manager for Southern Africa, to China. Only Jeff showed up and resigned immediately while Elinah was a no show.
“When the Chinese got the news, they were very shocked and blocked everything in Botswana. They have assured (me) that they are going to deal with Elinah and ensure that she delivers (on) the promise that she made,” Marea said.
People deposited funds ranging from P2,000 to P1 million depending on the product into a South African account belonging to Walter Mogi with the hope that they would get their products to sell under the Longrich brand. The victims were also expected to recruit other members into the scheme.
Further revelations indicate that neither the car promotion, which Elinah used to recruit more people, nor compensation plans were authorised in China.
Beginning of this year, Elinah ran a car promotion, which she promised people who joined Longrich with P20,000 and recruit three people would automatically get a Hyundai Elantra.
“We were all convinced, everything seemed so real because we googled and saw other African countries benefitting, getting cars, their kids giving testimony of benefitting from the Longrich scholarship,” Marea said.
Narrating the ordeal, she said that things started getting out of hand when they learned that their money failed to reach South Africa, which resulted in non-payment of any dues.
“Our orders took time to come to Botswana to an extent that we started approaching Elinah to enquire. Every time we approached her, she would put the blame on Jeff who has come to Botswana on several occasions, assuring us that we will get our products and bonuses” she said.
Longrich had arranged with Elinah to receive the money on their behalf in Botswana, key the people into the system, send the names and the total amount of money to the regional GM in South Africa, who would then make orders on their behalf and create memberships.
The membership would give them access to Longrich website, open an office, check their performances online and which incentives they qualified for.
According to the victim, the excuses kept changing every day. The promotion dates were also postponed and Elinah together with his supervisor started pointing accusing fingers at each other. Amidst this, Elinah then left the country in April, which made the ‘clients’ suspicious and intensified their enquiries. In August, the Chinese got a tip off of what was happening in Botswana.
Another source said the couple has taken their scheme to the Democratic Republic of Congo where customers are reportedly baying for their blood.
Efforts to reach the couple were not successful as their cell numbers went into voicemail.
Elinah together with her boyfriend, Walter Mogi are not new to fraud cases as last month they appeared for mention in a case where three years ago they were implicated in an alleged theft of P15 million from different banks, which included Stanbic Bank and First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB).
Longrich is a Chinese company founded by Zhiwei Xu, which produces more than 1,000 products in eight categories, including household, cosmetics, health care products, furniture, real estate and logistics. It operates in 11 African countries, which include Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Kenya DRC and Botswana.