Riots Break Out Across Colombia After Investment Scam Collapses

Riots have flared across Colombia over the collapse of a pyramid investment scam that left thousands of investors broke and furious. Police used teargas and batons to quell crowds that tried to storm the offices of rogue investment firms, some of which had left notes taunting their victims for being gullible.

Mobs smashed doors and windows in a vain effort to enter the premises and recoup savings, or at least take revenge on fraudsters, who had vanished overnight.

"Dear investors, thanks for trusting us and depositing your money," said a note on the door of a company in the province of Cauca. "Now, for being stupid and believing in financial witchcraft, you will have to work for your money."

Enraged investors looted the company's office before being subdued by riot police. In Pereira, police allegedly arrested two loan managers fleeing out of the back door of an investment office with four suitcases filled with cash. The two are said to have tried to buy their freedom by offering police some of the money, only for bribery to be added to their charge sheet.

The government has launched an investigation into how a network of at least 66 agencies in nine cities conned so many people, promising returns of up to 150%. One agency alone had managed to take in more than £110m in the last four months, the finance ministry said. High fees deter many poorer people from putting their money into banks in Colombia.

Oscar Naranjo, the head of the country's police, said the scheme appeared to be a money-laundering enterprise organized by drug traffickers. President Álvaro Uribe has urged congress to pass a law penalizing the fraudsters.

"Everybody was full of hope for December, for the holidays," said a man in Popayán who had lost nearly £1,000. "The people thought their lives would change."

Luis Alberto Sierra, in a crowd gathered outside an office belonging to the parent company Fast, Easy and Effective Money, in the town of Armenia, told Caracol TV he had lost £11,400 - a fortune for most Colombians. "I mortgaged my house, invested all my savings," he said.

But the vice-president, Francisco Santos, said: "When someone promises to double your money in six months they are trying to trick you. Nothing is free in this world, and that is not going to change."