PayGold.org Is A Scam (Run By Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani)!

Paygold.org is a scam and this scam is perpetrated by Kenechukwu Ezeani – Akaahan Terungwa.

In the paragraphs below, I’ll detail exactly why I strongly believe that this scheme is a scam – one of the very cheapest and common in the online fraud ecosystem in Nigeria.

I’ll also explain why I sincerely believe that, one of the greatest scam artists Nigeria has ever known, Kenechukwu Ezeani is behind it.

However, if you’re busy, here is a summary why Paygold.org is a scam:

• PayGold is MMM  Version 2.1 – only that unlike MMM, you’ll never get a Kobo back!
• Money cannot be doubled, in a short while either online or off.
• Online, any ‘investment’ that isn’t transparent enough is clearly fraudulent.
• PayGold is neither global nor is it international. It is a kitchen affair!
• The ‘testimonials’ on PayGold are fake, 101%!
• This ‘Global’ & ‘International’ company has no social media presence whatsoever!
• Finally, PayGold is powered by E-Business Technologies – Kenechukwu Ezeani’s scamming tool.

Now, if you’ve got the time, follow me down the page as I explain things for you, set by step and break down everything to clarify.

Let’s fire!

Is PayGold Investment Legit?  PayGold.org Review – 7 Solid Reasons Why PayGold Is A Scam! 

Recently, I shared the major causes of online fraud in Nigeria and also offered brilliant solutions that, if implemented, will go a long way to curb the menace of this super ugly trend.

I ended that article by arguing that, we live in a society that does not truly care how money is got – and to paraphrase the The Mafian Manager, it is welcomed even in super dirty sacks!

My conclusion was that, if this mentality of the average Nigerian does not change, everything else we write, say or do will amount to pure vue liam (you’ll need a Tiv man or woman for this translation).

However, in my way, I have kept the torch high up and burning – the torch of exposing, publicly, any online fraudster or fraud scheme that comes my way.

This way, I sincerely believe that anyone who runs a smart Google check before committing money, would  be saved some agony – especially in Nigeria.

This site, Akaahan Terungwa dot com, is primarily dedicated to this and I have a section specifically dedicated to reporting online fraud in Nigeria (and elsewhere).

It is from this form that a scammed victim reached out – and he specifically mentioned PayGold.org.

Upon investigation, I discovered that the site is run by someone who had scammed me, circa 2013: Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani – the godfather, perhaps, of all online fraudsters in Nigeria.

This title, I believe, he merits it for his sheer persistence in the ‘business’ and how unrelenting he financially screws his victims and leaves them in total mess.

If you’ve been active online in Nigeria during the last 10 years, Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani needs no introduction:

• He’s the same person as Dr. Azolibe – the penis enlargement guy who spammed every Nigerian email, male and female, circa 2013 – 2016.
• He also went with the alias, Dee Obinna at some point.
• He answered Ikemba Eze at some point too.
• At some point in his prolific scam career, he also went by the moniker, John Okobi. 
• He is also known online by the alias, James Igberase. 
• The list, clearly, is endless. I’ll however stop here and get to the meat of this article proper.

So, I’m not talking about a total stranger, entirely 🙂

But, I digress. Here are the seven (7) solid reasons why I hold that PayGold is a total and absolute scam!

Here:

1. PayGold Is MMM  Version 2.1 – Only That Unlike MMM, You’ll Never Get A Kobo Back!

After the 2015 elections in Nigeria, things took a downward, accelerated spiral.

There was no money going around, inflation was at an all time high, jobs were lost in the millions and hopelessness was abundant in the air.

The average Nigerian cursed himself why he or she was born to Nigerian parents and those who could afford to leave the shores of the country left – in an instant – and in droves.

In the midst of this hopelessness, there came MMM – Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox – a scheme that promised an whopping 30% ‘ROI’ after just 30 days.

It called itself a “mutual aid fund where ordinary people help each other.”

Lasting about just a year (November 2015 – December 2016), it captured the hearts of millions of desperate Nigerians and ultimately, when it crashed, sank billions of Naira, lives, relationships and families.

However, not everyone who ‘invested’ in the scheme lost out. Some folks actually cashed out big, ‘reinvested’ and made huge ‘returns’.

Before the ultimate crash, some smart fellows had made money out of the system enough to change their cars, buy houses or further major investments.

However, that was the format of the late Russian, Sergey Mavrodi. He believed in pulling people in, showing that his ‘system’ was ‘working’ before striking.

Of course, Nigerians have a ‘better’ and ‘smarter’ way: eat up anything that lands into the system and scam everyone who is unfortunate to try things up.

This is the stark, crude category where PayGold by Kenechukwu Ezeani belongs.

ANY MONEY THAT GOES IN, DOES NOT COME OUT – EVEN FOR THE VERY FIRST ‘INVESTORS’.

Everything simply goes GBIMIIN!

Now, if that is not barefaced robbery, what is it?!

Special Note: if you’re wondering where I got ‘MMM 2.1’ and concluded that PayGold is of the 2.1 stock, it is actually simple. The original MMM in Nigeria was 1.0. After its death, others emerged – with the same style and pattern – MMM 2.0; schemes such as Ultimate Cycler belong here.  These options, at least paid some – and were largely run by Nigerians, some of who were victims to the original Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox scam.

Now, MMM 2.1 covers all the latter schemes by Nigerians such as Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani, schemes the founders have not and will not pay a Kobo to anyone. Options set up as pure scamming enterprises from the word ‘go’.

2. Money Cannot Be Doubled, In A Short While Either Online Or Off

In the not so distant past, there were people who made a living by claiming they were specialists on subject areas which they knew nothing about.

For instance, these folks could tell you that they possessed special alchemy knowledge that could easily turn base metals in gold.

Occasionally too, they were found of telling any interested ear how they had perfected the art of money doubling (or quadrupling – whichever was fancier at the moment). The intent of such ‘sweet talk’ was simple and seductive: to get the listener to hand over his or her hard (or soft) earned money for the purposes of playing multiplication with it.

The results were disappointments at the end of the day and something closely resembling a heartbreak – for these fellow were nothing more than scoundrels, scams and ordinary cheats.

These group of unique folks were called charlatans.

These charlatans of old existed and plied their trade majorly in Europe – before the industrial revolution, at its wake and shortly after.

Fortunately for Europe, it has grown past that stage and as awareness and knowledge increases, Europeans are generally able to smell a fraud from a mile away, online scams included.

This cannot be said of Nigeria though. Thanks to poverty and a population that has actively involved itself in the highest abyss of stupidity, such cheap frauds such as the concept of money doubling still finds attraction in the hearts of an unhealthy percentage.

For the records, money cannot be doubled online or off – especially for short periods of time, say some days, weeks or months!

Money is made, usually, systematically by persons who know exactly what they are doing and how it is done. Even at that, it is EARNED – NOT DOUBLED. Usually too, this earning process takes some time and is not as fast as any idiot will have you believe!

Understand this and you’re already ahead and free of the most dangerous online scams this generation offers, including the current one under discussion, Pay Gold.

Sadly, this is the ‘reality’ Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani is offering via Pay Gold: modern charlatanism by means of the age old money doubling trick – a ‘reality’ that even children know isn’t true and cannot exist (at least during our time).

Unfortunately, because of the gullible nature of Nigerians (all thanks to weak institutions and a religious sector that preys on their deepest vulnerabilities), Mr. Ezeani moves from (and around) these sort of scams with an ease that is rare, even in Nigeria.

His last known one was well documented here: Biz Profit NG (Bizprofitng.info) By Ken Ezeani Is A Scam!

3. Online, Any ‘Investment’ That Isn’t Transparent Enough Is (Clearly) Fraudulent

The greatest charlatans of old had a very unique way of plying their trade: sweet words that ensured vague promises; promises that weren’t clear enough and ultimately, meant nothing on closer scrutiny.

Many years have now gone by, however the classical style of the charlatan hasn’t changed: vague promises and a sweet tongue still remain the order of the day!

This modus operandi is meant, like religion, to ensure that instead of the (prospective) victims actively thinking with their heads, they engage their hearts and in that state of ‘induced euphoria’, see options and possibilities where none infact exist.

For the modern scammer and dedicated fraudster, this is the perfect method – one the masters of the game understood (and still understand) like the back of their hands.

One recent example of such mastery comes to mind: the late Sergey Mavrodi.

Turning to the fraud at hand, PayGold.org, I have scouted the few pages of the website (with the intent of unraveling any tangible way in which this scheme is supposed to generate money for the founder and ‘investors’.

Here’s what is available on the ‘about’ page (https://paygold.org/service.html):

If the text there is too tiny for you, here’s what the screenshot above says:

PAY Gold is a global and international investments company that pays you 100% any amount you invest in 3 days. If you invest a particular amount of money you will be paid your profit in a maximum of 3 days after our trading. PAY GOLD’s goal is to change the way money is being saved and invested worldwide. With Pay Gold, you no longer have to worry about the way the banks are ripping off their customers, you have a system that can give you 100% of your investment in a very short while. Yes, we repeat, banks rip off their customers. Let’s Look at this scenario. You save 500k in your savings account with any bank. At the end of the month you don’t receive any profit or interest, all you get is SMS charges for the month, “card maintenance charges”, account maintenance fees, and all sorts of meaningless fees. The 500,000 you saved must have reduced to 497,000 with all the debits with no single interest paid to you at the end of the month. Now the next day, a businessman would approach your same bank and ask the bank for a loan of that same 500,000 for his business. The bank would give the businessman the loan and tell him to repay it with 30% interest. So the bank ends up making 150k profit from just one customer out of the millions they have and on your end, you lose money from fees with no interest paid to you at all….

Now, the first sentence runs a brief intro of the scheme – or details what is supposed to be an intro.

The very second sentence jumps into payment of returns, 3 days max after ‘trading’. Notice how trading or the variant thereof isn’t defined or elaborated further.

Next:

…PAY GOLD’s goal is to change the way money is being saved and invested worldwide. With Pay Gold, you no longer have to worry about the way the banks are ripping off their customers, you have a system that can give you 100% of your investment in a very short while. Yes, we repeat, banks rip off their customers. Let’s Look at this scenario…

An emotional appeal hunt that is meant to appeal not to logic but to the heart. The rest of the page, in the typical charlatan manner is a mere emotional trip down the tender lanes of the heart and a barrage against the present world banking order and how wholly unjust it is.

Now, the great irony is that, having indicated how exactly the banks make their money by lending out to customers in need, Ezeani is completely silent about how he will help you take a detour from that old lane and ensure quick returns in just 3 days!

Sweet nothings…detailing exactly nothing! But, big enough reason for you – or anyone with what looks like a brain to run, VERY FAR!

Ins’t this approach not the same with the style of modern day Nigerian pastors?!

Isn’t Mr. Ezeani the undisputed godfather of online fraud in Nigeria?!

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

4. PayGold Is Neither Global Nor Is It International. It Is A Kitchen Affair!

The online world is a chronically funny one: almost everyone is ‘CEO’ – even without a company; every slay queen is a ‘manager’ when it has been proved beyond any shadow of doubt that what such a person has every managed (successfully or not) their entire lives is a WhatsApp group.

Basically, these self acclaimed titles are harmless – and at worst, a source of humour and a cold reminder of the fact that the human race is a truly vain specie.

However, when such claims would make someone take a financial decision, believing such slay queens or mamas to be indeed managers of what they are not (and are not by any means qualified to be), this seemingly harmless and obviously vain action takes the dimension of a wrong that bothers on criminality.

That is exactly the wrong Mr. Ezeani is guilty of here with PayGold.

He has stated that the company is a ‘global’ and ‘international’ concern. His words:

PAY Gold is a global and international investments company that pays you 100% any amount you invest in 3 days….

The problem is that, a simple Google search of the ‘company’s’ name or the principal persons in it returns nothing, just pages from the main site, https://paygold.org – and about one or so other site which Mr. Ezeani directly controls or edits –  nothing more.

This should be a deep cause for concern for anyone who wants to do ‘business’ with such a ‘company’ without any (even passing) mention anywhere online or in mainstream media.

However, that is just the beginning: a closer look at the page where these claims are made shows an array of grammatical errors that no ‘global’ or ‘international’ company can ever be guilty of.

For instance, the word ‘global’ and ‘international’ are synonyms and should not be used with ‘and’ between them.

The mere commission of this mistake should be a red flag for anyone who is smart enough to understand the English language and further understand the fact that one of the tell tale signs of fraud in written form is the commission of unpardonable English blunders, blunders no legit company will ever be guilty of.

The verdict?

PayGold is not any ‘international’ or ‘global’ company. Rather, is a very cheap domain name and hosting affair (costing not more than $40 – together with the theme used for the design), hurriedly put together in a kitchen by Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani for the sole purpose of scamming inexperienced Nigerians online.

End of story.

5. The ‘Testimonials’ On PayGold Are Fake, 101%!

Testimonials are an important part of the conversion process in business: they give one a rare glimpse into the private thoughts and opinions of those who have used a product or service before.

Together with their close cousin, reviews, these two, in a sane environment, are smart guides that help the decision making process (for the client or customer) and ensures that it is overall, smarter.

This helps would be buyers of products and potential subscribers to services to make an informed decision – something that could have been difficult otherwise, especially figuring how busy and complicated the world is at the moment.

Sadly however, unscrupulous elements like Mr. Kenechukwu Ezeani have taken this otherwise very useful invention and spurned it on its head for the mere purpose of scamming or defrauding unsuspecting members of the public.

Mr. Ezeani (and his ilk), sit in a house (or kitchen) and fabricate reviews or testimonials, rip off photos on the internet, attach fictitious names and occupations to these non existent customers or clients and bam, they are invented!

Red Flags Of These Testimonials (On https://paygold.org/testimonial.html):

However, like many aspects of online fraud, fake testimonials or reviews can be smartly detected from a mile away – if only one is well equipped to detect such bullshit.

As for the testimonials of this site, there are a few red flags that can be spotted, even without much effort. They are:

The Same Hand Wrote Them All

The writing of a person denotes how such a person thinks, his or her emotions, exposure and even the mental state at the time of writing.

As a matter of fact, there is a whole science behind this called Graphology with experts whose job is to detect writing, allocate it to its writer and even go beyond to (correctly) figure out the mental state of such a writer, his or her educational qualification and the prevailing emotion that besieged such a person as at writing time.

The success of this science is premised on the fact that like fingerprints, no two persons (even identical twins), think or write in the same manner.

However, the reviews on this ‘testimonial’ page on PayGold ‘Investments’ website (I saved the page in PDF format just in case the site is taken down) all have reviews that are in sync with the general, overall style of the entire website.

The grammar, flair, emotions and importantly, the exposure level of ALL the ‘past or present clients’, irrespective of educational attainment or occupation, also rings consistent, throughout.

The conclusion in such a case is quite simple and straightforward: the same hand wrote them all – the dubious and fraudulent hand of Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani!

The Reviews Are Full Of Praises, All Through!

In the world of reviews and testimonials, some persons who have used a product or service would have something good, nice or kind to say about same.

Some will have a mixture of good and bad.

Yet still, others won’t see anything good at all in such a product or service.

The reason is simple and straightforward: you cannot satisfy everyone – as each person has his or her own unique constitution that makes them different and importantly, have their reasons for turning to you in the first place, reasons that you may not be able to satisfy completely, hard as you may try.

This is the way of the world and there is nothing that can be done about it. If you’re in doubt, take a look at Amazon.com and see the reviews of even the best products there…it is also the reason why no single product with more than 25 reviews has no perfect 5 stars.

From this logic thus, the great or ideal product is not the one that is without negative reviews (they’re a must) but rather, one that has a low negative to positive review ratio.

As a service, what is expected is to see reviews that share the general sentiments of all reviews: good, good and bad and bad.

Even if for the sake of business the bad are not published, even the good ones (published) should indicate some challenges or areas of improvement that will help make a great product or service even better or completely excellent.

Is that what we see here?

No. Instead, all the testimonials are busy hailing the program like some hungry youth when a local politician storms a beer joint in Southern Nigeria.

I smell rotten fish here – and a plethora of falsehood, blended to match. And I have serious catarrh.

Now, how can you not smell this mess with nothing blocking your nostrils?!

The ‘Testimonials’ Here Are Non-Verifiable

Reviews, published on a market place like Amazon do not need to have the contact details or any other means of getting to the maker or writer of such a review.

However, to differentiate the reviews with a higher likelihood of being authentic with the others without such a likelihood, the words, ‘Verified Purchase’ are added to the reviews of users who have actually bought the product or service on Amazon.

The grand essence of this is to discourage sellers on the platform from pilling up fake reviews either by creating same themselves or paying third parties for such unholy practices.

While this cannot be applied to a site like RainGold (and may not be logical to expect the reviews to be hosted on a third party, independent site), it is at least expected that the contact details of the reviewers or those leaving testimonies on the site should be shared so that the veracity of such testimonials can be confirmed by any interested third party.

In the instant case, a simple phone number or FB account will suffice – two things anyone online in Nigeria today possess.

Sadly, the ‘testimonies’ shared do not contain this very important element. Instead, a lifted photo off the internet and some fictitious (very general) address is all that is available – two super useless metrics that cannot be used to ascertain the veracity of the ‘testimonials’ shared.

And if testimonials cannot be independently reviewed, what good exactly are they, especially to the trained, discerning, professional eye?!

The Details Therein, Are False. Mostly

Testimonials are supposed, under ideal conditions, to contain absolute truths and be completely devoid of lies. It is in being so that they garner believability in the first place.

Accordingly thus, when lies are mixed up when reviews or testimonials are offered, it taints the whole process – and completely mars such user opinion, even if other aspects of the opinion are substantially true.

For Mr. Ezeani in the instant case, the bubble burst when he mentioned a review from one ‘Mercy’, purportedly from Makurdi, Benue State.

Now, as a Tiv man from Benue State myself, I took special note of this ‘testimonial’ and read every single line of it – and then, read right in-between the lines.

If you cannot read the shared screenshot above, here’s the first two lines of the purported review:

“I finished from a government secondary school here in Makurdi 3 years ago. I have always wanted to live a happy life. I’m tired of living a poor life. Immediately after secondary school, I knew there was no hope for me, so I started hawking pure water. My mother sells roasted yam on the roadside and my father is jobless….”

Now, on face value, especially for someone who is not from that part of the country, this makes perfect sense and as a matter of fact, you may be wondering why I even singled out this short extract as an example of the many lies and inconsistencies prevalent with these trumped up testimonials.

However, for a Benue man like me, everything is wrong here – for yams are not hawked or sold on the streets of Makurdi. At least, not yet!

Now, this singular mistake is a grave giveaway and indicates that the publisher of the site, having written this himself, has failed to understand the culture and lifestyle of those he falsely quotes as having sent in the testimonials in the first place.

To put the records straight, roasted yam is only hawked around the villages – as one enters Benue from the South. The farmers around the villages there farm yam and make it a lucrative past time to roast it and sell to travelers who are often hungry and who largely come from places where where it is hard or nearly impossible to see or buy such a delicacy, at least for a reasonable price.

In Makurdi proper, yam is so common that no one bothers to roast it by the roadside; instead, what you find roasted and sold in such a manner is corn (as is Plantain in the South).

The conclusion? Mr. Ezeani had the opportunity of travelling through Benue state from the Southern axis, saw the roadside roasted yam sellers and concluded that roasted yam is sold all through the state capital in the manner he saw by the village road sides.

He also (wrongly) concluded that yam must be sold all over the state, especially in the capital city of Makurdi in the manner roasted plantain (bole) is sold down South.

Lies, scams and fraudulent behaviour can hardly go lower than this.

It is a true shame!

6. This ‘Global’ & ‘International’ Company Has No Social Media Presence Whatsoever!

This is the age of social media – and EVERY company or business concern is represented on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Or, an array of them all – in all their majesty and glory.

It makes business sense too – since almost every adult today is on social media, it is actually a smart move to hang out where one’s customers are currently chilling out.

To smartly bring this to fruition, many companies and business concerns today hire hands that manage such social media handles and here, customers challenges, inquires and queries are handled – even right to the wee hours of the night or morning, 24/7.

It is also a common practice for such companies to advertise their services on social media, using the geo targeting and bio-data features these sites afford.

It is thus strange – and a VERY clear indication of deceit and fraud that a ‘global’ and ‘international’ company has no social media presence whatsoever!

This is truly the handwriting on the wall that should stop even the most naive newbie or insistent old timer that something – no, EVERYTHING – is seriously AMISS here.

To them that have ears, hearing is actually expected!

7. Finally, PayGold Is Powered By E-Business Technologies – Kenechukwu Ezeani’s Primary Scamming Tool

A well known African proverb goes thus:

He whom the gods wish to punish, they first make mad.

Mr. Ezeani made a catastrophic mistake here that only a true idiot would: he mentioned eBusiness Technologies – one of his well known and documented concerns as powering this fraud.

I had, in the past, documented this scamming concern on this post: Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani (Ken Ezeani) Is A Scammer. If you have not seen or read that piece, now is the time.

Do you see what I mean?

If you’re asked to reach a final conclusion, what would it be?!

Wrap Up

Mr. Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani is clearly one of the most insistent online scammers to come from Nigeria.

From his primary scamming tool that I first took notice of around 2011, incomefornigerians.com, this  fellow has created more than 10 other sites strictly for the sole purpose of scamming newbies online and enriching himself from the pains of his fellow countrymen and women.

This is a shame – and a super pathetic way to live.

However, one thing is certain: I’ll continue to expose him and his kind as soon as their evil comes to light.

Addendum 1: This Is How Kenechukwu Reginald Ezeani Looks

Sometimes, all you need to serve someone justice is their photo. Sadly, Mr. Ezeani knows this and does not appreciate his face in print anywhere, hence the removal of ALL his photos online and the resistance of social media.

Unfortunately, I have some – and this is one of them.

If you’ve been scammed by the fellow, you can print the photo and keep it close. If you’re in Lagos, great chances are that you may stumble across him one day. The world, afterall, is a very small place.

Who knows?

A fraudulent life truly does not pay. Can you see how this idiot, after scamming Nigerians daily still manages to look like a tout ‘hustling’ in the garage?!

Truly, nothing beats an honest living!

Addendum 2: PayGold.org Is Out!

As of 9th December, 2019, Kenechukwu  Reginald Ezeani has been forced to take down the scamming, thieving site, PayGold.org.

The internet is truly a super powerful tool – when used for public good!

Addendum 3: Saved Pages From Paygold.org

The modus operandi of online scammers and fraudsters like Kenechukwu Ezeani is relying on people not to expose them.

As soon as this happens and they are called out (in such a manner as I have here), the bubble is burst and they quickly take down the site, erase traces, exclude the snapshots from the Way Back Machine and generally, do a lot of other unholy things.

The grand essence? Closing their tracks and making certain that their sins are hidden and carefully tucked away, forever. Not anymore.

Before I started documenting this fraud, I saved the entire site, page by page offline – just in case the fraudster took it down before I was through or right afterwards.

This precaution, in hindsight, was – and remains, pure genius. Take a stroll through the full site – as it was before its take down.

Please note that the files are in PDF and some may be weighty. The actual size of each in attached to it directly:

1. The Entire Site – Homepage (3 MB).
2. The ‘Contact Us’ Page (1 MB).
3. The ‘How It Works’ Page (2 MB).
4. The ‘How To Invest’ Page (2 MB).
5. The ‘Testimonials’ Page (14 MB).

Addendum 4 (18th December, 2019): How To Recover Your Money If You’ve Been Scammed By This Idiot

The grand essence of this post was two fold: create awareness of this scam so that others won’t fall prey to the gimmicks of this scammer and for those who had already been scammed, recovery of their (hard earned) money.

To be frank, while the very first objective was easy to achieve, the latter, I wondered – and thought hard till I received a comment from Mr. Damian Ozor.

Here are his EXACT words:

Well written and eye opener from both Mr TOBEX and AKAAHAN TERUNGWA thank God that the imbecile and his crew is been exposed, similar thing happened to a friend of mine which I introduced to one online business like that, he ended up been ripped off his N25,000 but Glory be to God that we were able to get the money back using court order.

To get your money back Mr TOBEX is as Easy as ABC since you still have the payment prove and the email or Whatsapp message (s) between the both of you authenticating payment been verified.

This smart comment effectively fixes the second challenge I hitherto had with this article.

If you’ve lost money to this fraud and would love to see it refunded to you, exploring this avenue, for now, is the best thing you could do.

All thanks to Mr. Ozor!