Pyramid Protection

Central Bank has asked the Consumer Affairs Ministry to explore how it can use the Consumer Protection Authority Law to protect consumers from mushrooming network marketing pyramid scams.

Central Bank has asked the Consumer Affairs Ministry to explore how it can use the Consumer Protection Authority Law to protect consumers from mushrooming network marketing pyramid scams. Officials say the Bank has directed its letter to the Secretary to Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

In many countries, pyramid scams are shut down by Consumer Protection bodies.

But Sri Lanka’s Consumer Protection Authority has not acted yet on any pyramid scheme, though several are in operation.

Some are straight voucher-based ones; others are more sophisticated, offering gold coins and bits of diamonds.

Central Bank’s Exchange Control Department has also asked the Fraud Bureau to take action against after the department began investigating GoldQuest customers who had engaged in forex fraud.

The Central Fraud Bureau says the Attorney General’s Department has so far not given an opinion to the Central Fraud Bureau about how proceed against GoldQuest.

The possibility of freezing the assets of GoldQuest and it