Nukuʻalofa, Tonga – Tonga Police has warned that promoting the BG Wealth Sharing Scheme is an offence, following Kaniva’s report that scheme promoters appeared to meet in Tonga last week.
According to the advisory, the National Reserve Bank of Tonga (NRBT) has formally identified BG Wealth Sharing as an illegal investment operation, warning that the scheme bears the hallmarks of a pyramid or Ponzi structure.
It followed videos shared on Facebook over the weekend showing a meeting, attended mostly by women, listening to a woman who appeared to be promoting the BG scam.
As we reported earlier on Friday, a meeting by BG campaigners had been announced on social media to be held at the Tonga Tauʻataina Church hall in Haʻateiho at 7pm the same day.
Authorities in Tonga, New Zealand, Australia and the US said the schemes depend on money from new participants to pay earlier investors and often collapse, causing significant financial loss.
Tonga Police reminded the public that it is illegal to initiate, donate to, advertise, implement, finance, or manage any pyramid or Ponzi scheme in Tonga. Individuals involved in such activities may face criminal prosecution.
Authorities are strongly advising people not to join or promote the BG Wealth Sharing programme and to be cautious of any similar schemes promising unusually high or guaranteed returns.
Members of the public who have already been approached by representatives of the scheme, or who may have provided personal information or money, are encouraged to report the matter to the Tonga Police Cybercrime Unit.
Reports or suspicious activity can be submitted by contacting 7401660 or emailing cybercrime.unit@police.gov.to.
For additional media inquiries, the public is advised to contact the Tonga Police Media & Public Relations Office at 740‑1613.
One investment, withdrawals “until the end of time”
As Kaniva News reported last week, an aggressive promoter of the BG scheme, Siani Kijlstra, told her followers that a leadership team from the organisation would arrive in Tonga to hold a meeting and answer questions about joining the programme.
She promoted a slogan in Tongan: “Inivesi tuʻo taha fakatuputupu ki he pāʻangangalu,” telling followers that if they joined, they would make only one investment and then be able to withdraw profits from it “until the end of time.”
Online Promotion by Tongans
As Kaniva News has reported, a significant number of Tongans in New Zealand, Tonga, Australia, the United States and elsewhere have been actively promoting the scheme online.
Promoters circulated the company’s logo across Facebook and encouraged community members to join.
One Facebook group run by Tongans and dedicated to BG Wealth Sharing has amassed several thousand members.
