Welcome to my Crowd1 Review! If you are wondering is Crowd1 a scam or a pyramid scheme, you'll definitely want to read this!
Updated 26th of August 2020: More officials have expressed their concers by issuing warnings about Crowd1. Crowd1 has paid out its first owner rights residual income in May and put out two new products called Crowd1 Travel and SAfer.
It's hard to make up your mind about what Crowd1 really is. Is it a form of crowdfunding or an investment opportunity? It's definitely big with over 10 million members. Many authorities around the world have expressed concerns about Crowd1's business model. On the other hand the company has been trying very hard to become transparent and prove legitimacy. In its current state, I would personally treat Crowd1 as high risk investment, meaning that I'd invest only money I can live without.
First of all congratulations on taking the time to research before buying. It's the only way to find the legit programs and avoid all the scams out there. If you want to learn how I make money online, and how you wound up here, check out my number one recommendation through the link below.
The online world offers all sorts of money-making opportunities. One of the most common ones people run into is multi-level marketing businesses, aka MLM businesses aka network marketing.
MLM isn't the same thing as a pyramid scheme but pyramid schemes do use the MLM/network marketing principle. But there are legit MLMs/network marketing companies too.
Why I'm talking about MLMs is because Crowd1 uses the binary network marketing model to grow its user base.
Before we continue I want to be completely honest with you. I'm not part of the CROWD1 network and I'm not affiliated with them in any way.
I'm basing this review on the information I gathered on their published information and on third party sources.
I do recommend products I believe in on my site and I monetize my site through affiliate marketing. So there are affiliate links in my content from time to time. I want to be completely transparent about this as I only recommend products I fully believe in.
But I want you to practice critical thinking. Don't trust anyone, especially online, including me. Always do your research and draw your own conclusions. Be especially critical about promises of quick riches. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
What Is Crowd1
According to their own words, CROWD1 is a global online crowd marketing and networking company.
The basic idea is that members of Crowd1 pool up resources that are invested in their digital platforms that intend to sell other companies digital products and profit is shared with the members.
In the video below Christopher Healy explains what Crowd1 is about and how the aim of the system is to benefit the crowd instead of the individual.
The logic apparently being that by pooling resources all the individuals within the system, aka crowd, will benefit mutually.
UPDATE 26th August 2020: Crowd1 lists on their websites the following Tools and Products:
- Crowd 1 Travel: A discount network for flights, hotels and travel packages.
- Grithub Education: Educational packages that apparently aim to teach the skill of "grit".
- SAfer: A security App developed by the global leaders in security response software. The app apparently tracks your everyday movements and can identify unfamiliar movements.
- Digital and traditional presentations
- Media Toolbox: Tools to make commercials, promotonial content, banners etc. Not clear if this mainly for advertising Crowd1.
- Crowd1 Magazine: A monthly magazin that comes both in physical and digital edition.
UPDATE 2nd April 2020: The new Crowd1 headoffice is located in Spain and Crowd1 has registered under a new name: Impact Crowd Tecnhology SL.
In their own words they have moved the headoffice to Spain because they want to be transparent and follow the strictest demands on European compliance, transparency as well as legal, tax and regulations requirements. They have also published their Tax ID number.
Crowd1 currently has two offices in Europe, one in Africa and one in Manila. If you checked the video they are open about being an MLM but make the clear distinction from being a Pyramid or a Ponzi Scheme.
They plan on launching the company on huge markets like China, Canada and the USA later on. In USA apparently some old legislation against organized crime (Wire Act 1961) is preventing them from moving on due to a technicality.
They aim to grow by 20 to 25 million people by the end of the year so it's definitely growing at an insane rate. They are currently at over over 5 million members.
The company has disclosed that to achieve the scale of business they are aiming for, members are encouraged to recruit new members. However, they are adamant that the main focus of Crowd1 and Impact Crowd Technology is to offer digital services for the members own use or to re-sell.
Crowd1 was actually pre-launched over a year ago in January 2019, officially in August 2019 and they have been very active especially in South Africa the early 2020s. The held a cruise in early 2020 in South Africa for their top clients.
Who's Behind Crowd1
When I originally looked into Crowd1 there was very little information on their website about the ownership and people behind the company. This caused a lot of rumours and suspicions.
I'm glad to see that ICT is very open about the management of the company, which is as follows:
- Founder & CSD: Jonas E. Werner
- CEO: Johan Staël von Holstein
- CCO: Johan Westerdahl
- Business development Director: Fredrik Staël von Holstein
The board of the company consists of:
- Chairman: Jonas E. Werner
- Technology Director: Jens Lorentsson
- CEO: Johan Staël von Holstein
What You Get By Joining Crowd1
This is based mostly on third party information, so feel free to correct me in the comments section if you feel some information is wrong or out of date.
So what do you actually get with joining Crowd1? Well, you get the opportunity to buy educational business packages that include free owner rights that allow to earn income from the two main affiliate networks or platforms AffilGo and Miggster and other products that might be created later on.
These packages grant you access to the educational products as well. Your training content will depend on the investment plan you join. The training will vary from a simple starter kit to extended and professional courses.
And if you invest, you will of course get your owner rights that will hopefully keep producing increasing passive income as the companies profits increase and they start paying the dividends to the members.
By joining Crowd1 you also get the access to the opportunity to recruit other people into the program.
How Can You Make Money With Crowd1
Now if you are thinking about joining Crowd1 you probably want to know how and if you can actually make money with it.
It seems that Crowd1 is an investment opportunity type of MLM business where you have to either invest in educational packages (to receive free owner rights) or recruit more people into the system if you wish to earn income. Later on members can apparently earn income by selling digital services through the platform to consumer for a commission.
You can also apparently claim additional owner rights for free every friday once you are a part of the network. They clearly want to make the distinction that these owner rights are not actual shares of the company. If I understood the concept correctly, they are basically profit shares that will earn you dividends from the 40% split of the company's revenue.
Apparently 20% of the profits from the affiliate networks and digital services goes to the Crowd1 company, 40% to be shared through the owner rights and 40% to the network marketing bonuses.
There are several investment levels within the system I will talk about more about in a second.
But the most important thing is what you get in return for your investment. Besides the educational courses, you get the owner rights.
I Presume the value of dividends will vary depending on the revenue of the company at the moment. As of writing this, Crowd1 has not yet paid out owner share dividends to my knowledge.
There are four investment levels that are categorized with color-coding; White, Black, Gold, and Titanium. Each of these business packs contain a set of (free) owner rights.
So they are basically selling them as educational business packages and you get free owner rights as a freebie, but many people will likely buy the packages for the owner rights alone.
The prices I found are:
- €99 for the white package
- €299 for the black package
- €799 for the Gold package
- €2499 for the titanium package
Reward System
Crowd1 uses a binary network marketing model where you are required to recruit two person below yourself to be able to earn from additional recruiting. Additional recruitment needs to be controlled so that another "leg" of the recruitment pattern stays longer.
You can get compensated for the following bonuses:
- Education Package Sales Bonus
- Matching Bonus
- Streamline Bonus
- Fear of loss Bonus
Currently it seems the main way you can make money with Crowd1 is by recruiting people into the system and by gathering owner rights.
The network and the company is growing at a huge rate currently so I presume the best way to earn with the system currently is by recruiting to earn recruitment bonuses.
I'm not completely sure how the amount of owner rights is tied into the business packages, but it likely you get more of them the earlier you get in.
The owner rights will earn you a share of the profits that the company makes from their affiliate platforms AffilGo and Miggster. The more rights you have, the more monthly income.
So basically the earlier you get in on the action and the more owner rights you manage to gather and the more people you manage to recruit, the more income you can expect.
But you have to keep in mind that for this to work in the long term they will eventually need to start getting some significant revenue from the digital services and affiliate networks.
This is obvious because the system can grow only so much through network growth. Once new members aren't being introduced into the system, the network growth stops. Then it all depends on the income from sales.
Since there are millions of people in the system, the profits will be shared between all of them. This means that the services need to create some serious revenue for it to create substantial profits to each member. Since they are digital services with relatively low operating costs, I guess it's still within the realm of possibility.
I truly hope they manage to invest this massive capital so that the whole network profits massively.
Is Crowd1 A Pyramid Scheme
Crowd1 is a fairly new MLM that's growing exponentially, as the business model tends to do. They have over 10 million members currently. So I'm going to give them a benefit of a doubt and presume they are running a legit business that will bring money to all its members through their digital products.
There are some elements in the company that have made people and authorities think about a pyramid scheme or a ponzi scheme. Mainly because it seems they are using the MLM network marketing model to grow, gathering investment funds and there are no tangible products being sold.
Crowd1 has actually worked hard to prove it's transparency and legitimacy recently so I applaud them for that. Transparency is the only way network marketing companies can prove they are legit.
There has been some controversy concerning Crowd1 globally however:
- Crowd1 has been described as a pyramid structure by the Norwegian Lottery Authority. The lottery authority has not made an assessment of whether the business is illegal or not, they have requested Crowd1 to explain their business model in more detail.
- In Burundi, 17 people were arrested for running a "get-rich-scheme" involving Crowd1.
- The Philippine SEC has issued a warning stating that Crowd1 is not authorized to solicit investments from the public and advise people against investing.
- The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission issued a cease-and-desist order against CROWD1 Asia Pacific Inc.
- The National Consumer Commission (NCC) of South Africa is NOT investigating Crowd1, because there haven't been any complaints.
- Gabon's Ministry Of Finance has issued a warning about Crowd1 recommending that the public avoid using the online services called Crowd1 and Coffre 2 lux, which are successful through the supply of particularly questionable investment products.
- The Financial Services Commission of Mauritius has issues an investor alert about Crowd1: "urging investors and the public to exercise caution in relation to their dealings with Crowd1 and to be vigilant when being solicited to participate in such schemes."
- The bank of Namibia has declared Crowd1 as being an undesirable practice with no actual products where the primary source of income is generated through recruitment of new members.
- Business For Home Terminated their Crowd1 listing due to many warnings from leaders in direct selling industry and government intitutions.
- NEW Zealand FMA has issued against Crowd 1 and recommend exercising caution before dealing with Crowd1 and Impact Crowd Technology S.L.
Frome the statements I've seen, it seems that the company thinks that many authorities haven't really understood their business model.
In short, their take on the subject seems to be that the Bank of Namibia didn't understand their business model and digital products. I think this is a valid point, but still raises some concerns.
The line between pyramid schemes and legit MLMs is sometimes a vague one since it depends a lot on the compensation plan, business model intricacies and the jurisdiction the company is based on.
So companies based on the MLM model, trying to operate globally, are going to face issues from authorities. What is considered legal elsewhere might not be accepted in another country.
The general rule with MLMs is that a legit business that uses network marketing as a way to grow its customer base will make the vast majority of its revenue from sales of products or services instead of recruitment income from new members.
This would typically mean that it's either free or at least relatively affordable to join the system and that there are actual products to sell at a competitive price point.
It seems that in Crowd1's case they are growing the network beforehand, before fully launching the products, so it seems to the authorities that there are no actual services or products being sold. So it seems they need to start generating revenue from their services or affiliate networks quickly.
Is Crowd1 A Scam?
There definitely seems to be a lot of hype around Crowd1 and it remains to be seen if they can live up to that hype. I'm going to give them the benefit of a doubt and presume they can.
On the other hand authorities in many countries are concerned about the business model, so in my opinion the company has a lot of work to do in improving transparency and compliance to local legislations.
I would personally tread carefully. Do your research, sleep over it and then decide if this is a business you want to invest into.
All investments involve risks. Some more than others and I would categorize Crowd1 as a high risk investment, because they seem to be going for a completely new business model.
Remember that hindsight is always 20-20 but you don't really want to put yourself in a position where you have to think about that. The best way to avoid this is by investing only amounts you can live without.
The main concern with MLMs that offer investment returns is if the investment returns to existing sales reps/affiliates are paid from the investment of new members.
When this happens, the whole system becomes a Ponzi Scheme. Ponzi schemes are dependent on the recruitment of new people into the system.
I want to be perfectly clear that I'm not claiming or implying Crowd1 is guilty of this. It's just good to understand how such a system works if someone talks to you about a Ponzi scheme.
Ponzi schemes can be combined with the MLM business model to form a certain type of pyramid scheme even though there are small nuances between Ponzi Schemes and Pyramid Schemes.
AffilGo
AffilGo is an Affiliate network, associated with Crowd1, currently focusing mainly in gambling . It is actually marketed as "The world's fastest-growing affiliate network". AffilGo has now been officially launched.
Crowd1 has managed to partner up with Codere, Premier Bet, SBA, and Ltech.
Codere is apparently the official sponsor of Real Madrid and the largest gambling operator in the Spanish speaking world. They offer a wide variety of Casino Slots, Live Casino products and sports betting. Currently sign-up through through AffilGO is only available in Mexico.
Premier Bet is the leading gambling operator in Africa. They offer a wide range of football betting games from across the world. Premier Bet is available through AffilGO in the following countries: Ghana, Mozabique, Nigeria and Zambia.
SBA is the leading sports beting company in Uganda. They offer football betting games from all around the world. SBA is avaialable only in Uganda currently.
Ltech is a market leader in the resale of lottery tickets. This will apparently offer the possibility to buy lottery tickets through AffilGO from multiple lotteries around the world.
Currently the game types of games avaiable through AffilGO include:
- Baccarat
- Mahjong
- Bingo
- Slots
- Sports Betting
- Lottery
- Texas Hold'em
- Black Jack
- Roulette
- Pinball
- Keno
- Big Two
It seems that AffilGO is basically a platform that allows you to use the money you earn in Crowd1 directly to gambling but I can't really figure out what other benefit AffilGO offers over using their service providers directly.
Miggster
Miggster is an online gaming platform that is still in the pre-launch state as of writing this. According to their website, they are the "Future of mobile gaming".
The website talks about the trends of mobile gaming and how smartphone screen time will surpass TV screentime in the near future.
They share big numbers about the user and growth potential of mobile gaming and how Crowd1 gives its members through Miggster to build a global organization in one of the world's fastest-growing industries.
The website is fancy. The graphics are top-notch. The numbers are promising. But there doesn't seem to be much concrete information about this product on the website yet.
What it actually is, how it operates, what it costs etc. Is it a mobile game platform? A mobile real-time game streaming service like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are trying to develop?
Miggster is supposed to launch in the fall of 2020 so I guess we will find out as the year goes on.
Conclusion
I hope you found my Crowd1 review useful and it answered most of your questions. If you have any additional questions, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
Crowd1 has had some controversy with authorities as they have been under investigation at least in Norway, Philippines and Namibia.
But they seem to be doing a lot to show they are a transparent and legal company, like establishing a new head office in Spain and clarifying the ownership of the company.
They have also opened up the reasons behind the investigations and they do have some valid points.
The products the company is based on are also moving forward as AffilGo has been launched and Miggster is to be launched this fall. They have also recently partnered up with Epic1Lotto.
The coming months will be the time for Crowd1 to show it's true colors. Crowd1 has payed out the the first residual income from the owner rights in May, so they are living up to their word. Only time will tell how Miggster and AffilGo will evolve and produce revenue to the network.
I know the idea of making a lot of money by simply investing a relatively small amount of money and getting a few people along is really intriguing, but please be aware that there is risk involved with business opportunities like these.
In its current state, I would personally treat Crowd1 as high risk investment, meaning that I'd invest only money I can live without.
From what I could find out, they have not paid out any residual income yet. The first residual pay out is supposed to be in May 18th, so at that point we will know a lot more about the real income potential of Crowd1.
I will close with a shameless plug! If you want to learn how to leverage search engine traffic to create passive income streams, check out my number one recommendation through the button below:
Thanks for reading and please consider sharing in social media! See you next time.
30 replies on “Is Crowd1 A Scam or A Pyramid Scheme? [Review 2020]”
It has securities fraud.
If it has opened an office in Spain, then it will fall foul of EU regulations very quickly.
I still believe it is simply a money circulation scheme.
Thanks for voicing your concerns Laurence!
Please go do an updated review, there is a lot of development at the moment, and crowd 1 is realy comming to the party on there promaces
Thanks for the heads up Dewald! I updated the review about a week ago. I’ll check out the latest news.
Thank u for ur insights was very helpful would love to hear me of ur reviews
Glad you found it useful Veronica!
I suggest that you go back and review your claims and statements about Crowd1. Go back redo your home work. Better yet, here I have done you one better and sent you a video link of the Owners & CEO of Crowd1.
https://vimeo.com/412342150/cc9095f853
Interview with founder, Jonas Eric Werner, and ICT’s CEO, Johan Staël von Holstein
Watch the exclusive sit-down interview that followed our first-ever Crowd1 Live event to hear the insights and ideas about the show and the future of digitalisation and the mobile business.
Thanks for the heads up! I’ll check the video and update the article if necessary. Which claims and statements do you find to be misconstrued?
I am happy with CROWD1 and my friends are happy too because, we are benefiting from it.
Glad to hear it’s working for you!
Thanks do much for your review. Crowd1 is not a scam. Crowd1 has been nothing but blessing to me and my family especially during the lockdown. I joined Crowd1 on 3rd of January 2020 and I’m happy I did. If you want to know more about Crowd1 chat me up on WhatsApp (EDIT: number removed)
I’m glad if it’s working for you Bernard. I don’t allow sharing links or numbers in my comments, so I edited it out of your comment.
Hey everyone.
I also doubt about Crowd1 in the begin, but I challenge myself to prove with my own…
As we all read this is a business who’s fighting to prove that is legal, I can even give my testimony in this Business, my team is making a lot of euros with this platform. As the blogger adviced: Try to invest, but invest with a little amouth of money if you doubt.
Am putting my hand in the fire: Invest in this Business and if within three months you didn’t see results, contact me i’ll give your money back.
This is my link below, try. Without trying no one can acquire success:
(EDIT: Link removed)
I’m glad it’s working for you Dirson. But I will have to point out that I did not advice to invest. I advised people to treat it as a high-risk investment and to only invest money they don’t mind losing. I don’t allow sharing links or numbers in my comments, so I removed your link.
l joined crowd1 last year with 99 euro l bulid this business 9 mouths l made up to 450 000 euro and lm still earning while most people keeping talking bad about crowd1
I’m glad you’ve found success with Crowd1 Hingo! The network has grown at such a huge rate that I have no doubt that those who got in early on and have built their binary have made some serious money. I’ve tried my best to keep as a neutral stance with Crowd1 in my review as possible, but I feel that people should know about the controversy the network has faced from many authorities, so they can make an informed decision.
Thank you so much for this review. It has given me the green light as to what crowd1 is about.
Kindly keep updating with the most recent developments as and when there’s any.
It will really help your audience a lot. Thank you for this useful article.
I’ll bookmark it for more updates and future posts.
Glad you found it useful!
Very eye opening.youv done your best to inform us ,use the money you don’t need.and thanx for the affiliate program youv shared too.looking forward for you next update.
Glad you found the information useful Stephen!
Thank you so much. A friend I have a lot of respect for has been pressuring me to sign up with Crowd 1. I have a deep aversion for MLMs so my first impression was just to brush her off. I finally promised her that I would at least do my own research and get back to her. One thing stood out for me in your review… “Crowd 1 for now would at worst be referred to as a high risk investment”. I hear you loud and clear!
Glad you found the review useful Nkem! I don’t think that was my exact wording, but yes, I would consider it a high-risk investment currently.
Crowd1 is not a scam or a fraud,it is really a genuine MLM company, that is my experiences, I am earning money in Crowd1. My advice to you is that join crowd1 and do your Research from your experience and earn money without wasting your time,ok Jukka.
Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Jukka,
This is an excellent review of Crowd1, and it is still difficult to make up my mind on whether it is MLM or a pyramid scheme. To be honest I have used both types of business and I am not happy with either. I lost a lot of money, and I wasn’t helped at all. I won’t tell you the company’s name’s as I don’t know if they are still going or not. I know of lots of these types of businesses who were closed down because they were not legit, but Crowd1 sound like they could be legit so let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.
Thank you for sharing such great reviews and keep up the great work.
All the best,
Tom
Glad you found the review useful Tom! For myself, the biggest concern is that so many authorities have raised concerns about their business model. I just hope everyone who’s invested makes at least their money back.
The foundation and the relationship of Crowd 1 with the members of its crowd is not yet clear.
– What are the securities of the investment of the members?
– What are the securities of the income acruable to a member?
– What are the legal positions/ rights of a member?
– If something goes wrong and the system gets crashing what will happen to members’ investments?
Normally, even in a proved scam system people usually earn some good amount of money at some stage. But the scam in it is that it will not last long as it promises. Then, when it crashes people will lose their investments, especially, those investing in the later stage.
Good questions Oliver, I can’t naturally answer them for you but I think they do cover those mostly in their terms and conditions.
Thanks for this preview. This is the best preview I have seen today on Google, it was wonderful and straightforward in every aspect. Thanks once more for sharing the update with us all.
Glad you liked it Okuse!