Government through the Ministry of Finance and the National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board has closed down four Ponzi schemes that have been masquerading as betting companies for fleecing Ugandans of their money.

According to government, the four are actually ponzi schemes which been conducting betting activities illegally without a licence from the National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board contrary to the provisions of the Lotteries and Gaming Act No.7 of 2006.

Addressing the press in Kampala, Henry Musasizi, the state minister for Finance said the board established that one company known as Acclaim BLQ Sports SMC limited and trading as BLQ Football Uganda had fleeced Ugandans of at least Shs 60 billion. It has been using the sports betting strategy to market its membership.

The firm abruptly closed last week leaving many people in tears.

"However it has also come to the attention of the Board that many more companies such as Crown Football, E-Cairo Football and UGfootball are operating illegally both physically and through online platforms asking Ugandans to invest huge sums of money with the promise of exceptional investment returns," he said.

From the findings, he revealed the government has effectively closed the operations of these Ponzi schemes and the process of investigating them is underway.

"The board has written to Uganda Communications Commission notifying them of the illegal online betting operations of BLQ and it has issued directive to internet service providers to block access to fraudulent websites," he said

The Criminal Investigations Division has also been notified to investigate the companies while telecom firms, MTN and Airtel as MTN were instructed to cease providing payment system services to BLQ.

This action by government, follows numerous crime reports of fraud by financial network schemes in Uganda where most victims are promised non existent jobs.