No info is supplied by PetronPay on its website regarding who runs or owns PetronPay.

PetronPay’s domain (“petronpay.com”) was registered initially on December 2019. This registration was updated last on September 17th, 2020.

Marketing videos on PetronPay’s official YouTube channel feature actors with distinctly eastern-European accents.

PetronPay has trained their sights on Africa, which is evident both in their marketing and web traffic statistics. The earliest videos date back to May 2020.

Cameroon (22%), Liberia (13%) and Cote d’Ivoire (12%), comprise the main bulk of traffic to PetronPay’s site according to Alexa.

A deep dive revealed “Johnny Grant” as CEO of the company according to certain marketing videos published by PetronPay on unofficial channels.

Mr Grant is represented by an actor with what sounds like an eastern European accent in these marketing videos.

PetronPay’s website supplies an official business address in Swizerland to give the impression of legitimacy.

Near the start of this year, PetronPay attracted heat from Swiss regulators who issued PetronPay with a Securities Fraud Warning.

In what was meant to be PetronPay’s English compensation material, other inconsistencies included the application of random French words. Currency decimals also used commas instead of full stops – a standard practice on the continent. 

Once again: if any MLM company (or any other organisation) is not straightforward and forthcoming about who runs or owns it, think very carefully about becoming a member and/or handing over any funds.

1. PetronPay’s Products

PetronPay’s affiliates are limited exclusively to the marketing of PetronPay’s affiliate membership: PetronPay does not supply any physical retailable products or services:

2. PetronPay’s Compensation Plan

On the promise of an advertised 0.2% to 2.5% daily Return On Investment (ROI), PetronPay affiliates invest their cash…

• Barrel 25 – $25
• Barrel 50 – $50
• Barrel 99 – $99
• Barrel 249 – $249
• Barrel 499 – $499
• Barrel 999 – $999
• Barrel 1999 – $1999

Reinvestment is necessary to keep earning once investment returns pass 300%

1. Affiliate Ranks

PetronPay’s compensation plan comprises of 11 affiliate ranks

They are listed below with their relative qualification criteria:

• Star – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 3000 points
• Two Star – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 6000 points 
• Three Star – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 15,000 points 
• Ruby – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 25,000 points 
• Emerald – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 100,000 points 
• Sapphire – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 250,000 points 

• Diamond – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 750,000 points 
• Ambassador – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 1,500,000 points 
• President – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 3,000,000 points 
• Emperor – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 6000,000 points 
• Diamond Emperor – within an affiliate’s weaker binary team side accumulate 10,000,000 points 

2. Direct Commissions

PetronPay utilises a unilevel compensation structure to payout direct commission.

An affiliate is put at the head of a unilevel team in a unilevel compensation structure, and then directly under them is positioned their personally recruited affiliates ( on level 1):

Any new affiliates then personally recruited by those affiliates on level one are then placed on level two of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

Any new affiliates then personally recruited by those affiliates on level two, are then placed on level three and so on and on along a hypothetically eternal succession of levels.

Payable unilevel team levels are limited to six levels by PetronPay.

Along the 6 levels, Ten percent of the total invested is paid in the form of direct commissions as listed below:

• level 1 – 50 percent (of ten percent of total funds invested)
• levels 2 to 6 – 10 percent (of ten percent of total funds invested)

1. Residual Commissions

PetronPay utilises a binary compensation structure to payout residual commissions.

PetronPay’s binary compensation structure puts an affiliate at the head of a binary team, which is divided into 2: a left and right side.

The binary team’s first level is comprised of two positions, these first two positions are then divided into 2 more (4 positions) to generate the second level, each one of those is then divided into two and so on.

Further levels of the binary team are generated as is necessary, with every new level accommodating twice as many positions as the previous level.

Affiliates are recruited either directly or indirectly to fill positions within the binary team. PetronPay places no cap on the number of levels that its binary teams may grow.

Every PetronPay investment tier is matched with a binary point value:

• Barrel 25 – five points
• Barrel 50 – ten points
• Barrel 99 – twenty points
• Barrel 249 – fifty points
• Barrel 499 – one hundred points
• Barrel 999 – two hundred points
• Barrel 1999 – four hundred points

Every time affiliates put inside the team invest, points are accumulated across the binary team

On both sides of the binary team, PetronPay collates the new points at the end of every working day.

Fifty percent of points accumulated on their weaker binary team side are paidout to affiliates.

Any remaining points on the stronger binary team side are carried over once paid points are matched against the stronger binary team side and flushed out.

1. Three Star Bonus

Ten percent of original monies invested are paid as the Three Star Bonus, on every group of 3 personally recruited affiliates.

2. Rank Achievement Bonuses

Affiliates qualifying at Star and higher ranks are rewarded by PetronPay as listed below:

• Star qualification is awarded $100
• Two Star qualification is awarded $200
• Three Star qualification is awarded an iPhone and Apple Watch
• Ruby qualification is awarded a MacBook
• Emerald qualification is awarded a trip to Cancun and $1000
• Sapphire qualification is awarded a trip to Europe and a “game ticket”
• Diamond qualification is awarded a Mini Coupe from BMW
• Ambassador qualification is awarded a Jeep Cherokee
• President qualification is awarded a Mercedes Benz Class G
• Emperor qualification is awarded a Porsche Carrera
• Diamond Emperor qualification is awarded a house worth up to $250,000

2. Joining PetronPay

What amount of funds an affiliate wants to invest will determine the PetronPay affiliate membership fee:

• Barrel 25 – $25 investment + $5 admin fee
• Barrel 50 – $50 investment + $5 admin fee
• Barrel 99 – $99 investment + $10 admin fee
• Barrel 249 – $249 investment + $15 admin fee
• Barrel 499 –$499 investment + $15 admin fee
• Barrel 999 – $999 investment + $30 admin fee
• Barrel 1999 – $1999 investment + $30 admin fee

The above charges are repayable as recurring investment upon recording a 300% ROI

3. Conclusion

PetronPay asserts that it

“represents a privileged investment that allows investors to speculate on the price of a barrel of oil.”

The truth is that PetronPay is just one more Ponzi scam that enables Europeans to deceive and exploit their African victims. 

The company is not registered with any financial / industry regulators to offer securities in any jurisdiction and indeed there is no proof of PetronPay having any involvement in the oil / fossil fuels industry at all.

At the very least, PetronPay is guilty of securities fraud with illegal operations across the Globe ( Clear proof of this can be seen in the FMA’s warning

As always with such MLM Ponzi scams, new investment appears to be the only provable source of revenue going into PetronPay. 

Affiliates can receive their 300% ROI through new investment AND ONLY through new investment hence PetronPay is a Ponzi scheme in the classical sense and commission payout’s on funds invested by affiliates gives the scam another pyramid dimension.

Like every MLM Ponzi Scam, as soon as affiliate recruitment fades away, fresh investment will evaporate, PetronPay’s ROI revenue will disappear and the whole racket will fold.

The calculations that Ponzi’s are based on means that when they inevitably implode, most of the investors will lose their funds – and when we say lose what we really mean is those funds are stolen away by the organisers at the top. Ponzi schemes are essentially just elaborate thievery: don’t be one of their victims!