Everyone is looking to earn money online and it is no doubt that the internet has given us a lot of ways to do this from YouTube to Trading online etc. The problem is that some of these may not really work.
In this article I will be talking one of the money making ways which people say they are making money in South Africa, Stokvels. So this WhatsApp stokvels South Africa review will help you know if this is really a scam or not.
Before we begin this review you may be interested in checking my # 1 recommendation of making money online.
If you prefer watching a video for this review you can do so below,
What is a WhatsApp stokvel?
Firstly a stokvel is what has been in operation in South Africa for years. Over the centuries people have survived and made a living with stokvels.
A stokvel is basically a platform formed by a group of people who know each other very well and come together to save collectively.
The essence of a stokvel consisted of people who live in the same neighborhood and who are had come acquitted with each other.
The people decide on the rules that will help the stokvel work effortlessly like how much each person must put and when they are required to put their money and how frequently they put into the stokvel.
Also, a stokvel does not have to be money that these members put but it could be things that represent money like food items (groceries, clothing packages etc).
Related: 6 Best ways to make money online in South Africa
On the other hand for general stokvels that are existing in South Africa they are totally opposite all the aspects I talked about.
This is because the WhatsApp groups have people who are strangers joining them and also managing the WhatssApp groups.
Reasons for stokvels
Stokvels have been very informal over the years as I have said and this is for making financial needs for people. The purpose is to serve a need for the people ho are usually financially struggling (although not entirely the case)
Stokvels help any person whether old or poor to be able to achieve their objective in life (whatever it is).
In fact stokvels are said to grow even more over the next few years as people start working together for form great financial structures of their own.
Crowdfunding is one aspect which is similar to a stokvel were multiples of people invest in a start up business for a certain person of group.
Types of stokvels and WhatsApp stokvels
There are many types of stokvels that people make and they all depend on what each group of people want.
The people who start it always know what their aim is and since it is based on trust not any person (like a stranger can join).
This is the reason that is you are in a WhatssApp group that you do not know anyone that is not really a true stokvel by definition.
Here are the different types of stokvels that people create for different purposes:
- Savings
- Property Investment
- Groceries
- Clothing
- Hobbies
These are but a few, the list goes on forever because this mode you can make it for absolutely anything.
Research
As far as my research went I found a lot of great value in the idea of stokvels. Stokvels in their general sense are legit however they are formal ways of financial means.
This means they are not scams at all and even some financial bank institutions know about them and their operation. Look at the picture below of the CEO National Stokvel association.
This say that this system is legit and does work even thought it may not yet be formalized.
Dangers of WhatssApp money making platforms
To state the obvious WhatsApp scams have existed for a few years world wide so it is no surprise why some people still get scammed.
Remember social media is the best way that these scammers operate to catch the people who are naive about making money online.
In fact this WhatsApp stokvel that is happening in South Africa currently has been happening all over the world already it is just that these scammers are only taking advantage of these only now.
Below is a video of some scam that has been happening over the world through WhatsApp.
Testimonials
When it comes to testimonials for making money on WhatsApp the majority of the people are scammed and this has been happening g over and over again.
The funny thing is that people are still falling to the trap almost every day because they need money desperately.
Below are some video testimonials
Video 1
Video 2
Now you may seem to make money at the beginning however this is all a psychological game that all these scammers play.
So they lure you in with money once or maybe twice sometimes for you to trust all this is working and afterwards they take all your money.
It is easy for them to do this because they have no proper identity for you to recognized them with which is why I said a normal stokvel you know the people in the quiet well.
The verdict
So do I think WhatsApp stokvels are a scam?
Well the WhatsApp stokvels all depend on how that stokvel group was formed. So if the group fulfill these criteria it is legit:
- The people know each other VERY well.
- The people trust each other
- The people decide to all form a group on WhatssApp.
- There is always communication of doing activities to advance the purpose of the group (not merely recruiting).
If the WhatssApp stokvels fulfills this you are good to go. However, if the stokvels is opposite this as is mainly focusing on recruiting new people that this is a scam.
How I make money online
I have been on the internet as business online markerter from 2016 and have learnt to build a many websites from scratch of which some have made money and others no money.
I only got my good break this year and I able able to surve from money I make online building websites. This is my passion by far.
Basically what I do is called affiliate marketing whereby I promote different products and programs on my site. I also earn money through ads on my websites.
This way of making money can be done by absolutely anyone who has the drive as it can pay you recurring income forever if you build it good.
Now when I started I was completely a beginner and never knew how to build sites so when I got training from a community of top millionaire internet marketers only then did I start to see results.
Although the journey was not easy , however it has been rewarding even though I am still pursuing more of dreams (which is to be a 6 figure earner).
If you are also willing to work hard and get guidance from me and other top online business entrepreneurs you can join our community here for free (no credit card details needed).
I advice to only join if you are really wanting to work to build your income overtime.
More than this I will give you some bonuses and tons of help when you start creating your account or your first money making website.
Final thoughts
More and more people are looking for ways to make money online in South Africa however they are usually faced with a lot of scams.
The major scam that most people are facing currently are WhatsApp stokvel scams.
Even though stokvels by their nature are legit ways to save or accumulate money or other means however the ones that are going on right now are scams.
This is because the people who are admin and people who join often do not even know each other.
This makes them easy to see them as huge scam to avoid as scammers will easily take the money they want as they have no identity.
Do yourself a favor and go to a legit stokvel or just find other best ways to make money and you will succeed if you are determined.
I hope you enjoyed this article and I hope it was helpful. If you have any comments or question you can leave you comments or questions below.
I will be happy to engage with you on this topic.
WhatsApp stovels South Africa
not authentic to make you a lot of money
This is not the best way to make money online unless it is people you made a group with.
Hey,
Great post on stokvels. I was looking into different ways to make money and I have actually never heard of a stokvel before. I can see how they are similar to crowdfunding platforms although it seems that it is dangerous to do it through whatsapp because you don’t know who you are working with.
I think it would be best if you knew the person you were giving money to instead of just trusting some random person and hoping that it goes well.
Thanks for all of the useful information. Maybe I might try investing in a stokvel soon. How do you actually pronounce that word by the way? Is it an Afrikaans word?
Cheers,
Max
Hey Max
I am glad you got value from this article. Yes it is very similar to crowdfunding and most people have really benefited from this especially in the Africa continent.
This whatsapp stokvel though is very opposite to the original stuff
Hey Thabo!
Super interesting article you have here. I had never been aware of Stokvels before, but in theory, they sound like an amazing social safety network. It’s a shame that some people are exploiting what is essentially a platform built to help people, and making it into a profit driven scheme.
Thanks for the info!
Hey Raff
These scammers seem to find their hands or feet into everything that is legit and working well. It is a huge shame I tell you.
It is better just building your own business.
This was an interesting reading, thank you for your research on the topic. Hope this will help people to see what kind of Stokvels are scam and which ones are not.
Hey Jane
Thank you and I hope you also learnt a thing or two here about these Whatsapp stokvels.