The online investment platform "Ahold Delhaize Shop" collapsed on July 13th, 2024, rendering its website inaccessible and leaving participants unable to retrieve their funds. The scheme, which fraudulently used the name and logo of the legitimate Dutch-Belgian retail company Ahold Delhaize, operated as a task-based Ponzi. The actual Ahold Delhaize corporation has no connection to this scam.
Operators of Ahold Delhaize Shop remained entirely anonymous, providing no executive names, company registration details, or physical address on their website. This deliberate lack of transparency is a defining characteristic of fraudulent investment schemes. The domain ahold-shop.com was registered on July 6th, 2024, using privacy services to obscure the registrant's identity. Records show the registration processed through Alibaba (Singapore), a Chinese registrar, further concealing the true individuals behind the operation.
Ahold Delhaize Shop offered no tangible products or services for sale. Instead, its economic model centered solely on the recruitment of new investors. Participants deposited Tether (USDT), a cryptocurrency, into the platform and were promised daily returns. Investment tiers varied significantly. A minimum deposit of 4.8 USDT supposedly yielded 1.6 USDT daily, while a 9 USDT investment promised 3 USDT per day. Higher tiers included 30 USDT for 10 USDT daily, 90 USDT for 30 USDT daily, and 210 USDT for 70 USDT daily.
The scheme scaled up to substantial figures, with top-tier investors depositing 33,000 USDT and allegedly receiving 11,000 USDT every single day. Such an arrangement represents an unsustainable 33% daily return, an rate far exceeding any legitimate market investment. These promised profits were paid out of new investor funds, rather than from any actual revenue generation.
The multi-level marketing (MLM) component incentivized participants to recruit others. Referral commissions were paid three levels deep. Direct recruits (level 1) generated an 11% commission, level 2 recruits earned 3%, and level 3 recruits yielded 2%.
An additional downline investment bonus rewarded those who generated significant investment volume within a 24-hour period. These bonuses started at 10 USDT for generating 500 USDT in downline investment. At the highest level, generating 50,000 USDT in a single day paid a bonus of 3,500 USDT. While membership was technically free, participation in the income opportunity required an initial investment of at least 4.8 USDT.
The "task" in this task-based Ponzi involved clicking a button labeled "orders" once per day. Performing this meaningless action was the sole requirement to qualify for the daily returns. Clicking the button generated no external revenue, nor did it facilitate any actual product or service delivery. New investor money simply paid off earlier investors, a classic Ponzi scheme mechanism.
This precise model has appeared repeatedly in recent years, with schemes like Cencosud Mall, SuperAI App, and Ecard Bot operating under similar pretenses before their inevitable collapses. Hundreds of these "click-a-button" app Ponzis have emerged since 2021, most lasting only a few weeks to a few months. They typically disappear without warning, by shutting down both their website and associated mobile applications. The majority of participants lose money, as the mathematical structure of a Ponzi scheme ensures only a small fraction of early investors profit at the expense of later entrants. A consistent cluster of Chinese scammers is widely believed to be behind this entire wave of fraudulent platforms.