‘Carl Grindan’, the person behind QVSE, the doomed investment scheme that froze millions of shillings of Kenyans’ cash, also ran a similar scheme in Kenya last year, it has emerged.
Grindan ran the PCEX scheme under the Global Investment Group (GIG) banner, similar to QVSE. It also collapsed similarly, leaving Kenyans’ money trapped on the platform.
Victims of PCEX say they were lured into the scheme in early 2025 through friends, colleagues and family members.
Like QVSE, PCEX relied on copy trading, where an investor automatically mirrors the trades of another, usually more experienced, trader.
The method allows beginners to participate in financial markets without deep knowledge of chart reading or hours of research.
Users were told to deposit $500 (about Sh65,000) into their PCEX accounts, after which Grindan shared trading signals on a GIG Telegram group. Investors had a five-minute window to execute each signal before it expired, similar to the signals later sent through QVSE’s BonChat platform.
For PCEX, however, Grindan, whom followers also referred to as ‘Prof Carl’, sent four signals a day. Similar to QVSE, investors cashed out their profits through the cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance.
Grindan communicated with PCEX investors through Telegram, rather than BonChat, and used the same name and photograph he still uses now – that of a white, middle-aged Caucasian man in a dark grey plaid blazer and white Oxford shirt on his BonChat profile.
The Business Daily has since conducted a reverse search of the photograph, which showed it was first uploaded on the internet in September 2021 to a Norway-based photographer’s portfolio alongside five other shots of the model.
A similar picture, which appears to be from the same shoot, is currently the LinkedIn profile picture of a business executive working for a major Norwegian automotive group headquartered in Oslo.
On search engines such as Google, queries of the name ‘Carl Grindan’ only bring up recent QVSE-related discussions online.
PCEX also operated on recruiting more people. In an April 2025 Telegram message to a Kenyan investor who had joined PCEX on the introduction of a friend, Grindan said: “Your introducer has also reaped very rich profits here in the team. I hope you can learn from him how to build a team to increase your own profits.”
“When you agree to our investment project, I hope you will create your own team as soon as possible so that you can win at the starting line and let your friends feel the money-making opportunities provided by our team.”
According to a Telegram message shared with a new Kenyan investor and obtained by the Business Daily , if a new member’s investment principal exceeded 30 percent of the referrer’s funds, they enjoyed bonus signal transactions, boosting their account holdings.
PCEX was also in South Sudan, Nigeria, and Bahrain in the UAE, according to victim accounts from these countries shared on social media.
“The website is super vague about any real company info, and I noticed it’s basically just a template with flashy promises,” a user said on the social media site Reddit.
“Another thing I found was that they operate under multiple domains, which is sketchy. I previously looked into pcextrade.pro, and it had all the classic red flags—no transparency, unrealistic returns, and the whole thing looks like it’s just copy-pasted from other scam sites. Using multiple domains is a common trick to dodge detection once one gets blacklisted.”
But the promise of quick profits continued to attract investors. Some were able to cash out their principal after profits grew.
“I followed signal 4 times a day, and the money doubled in a month. That’s why I’m able to withdraw my initial modal before anything happens,” another Reddit user wrote.
“What’s left in there is all just profit. I’m planning to let the money grow for a bit until I can afford a car in cash. But I’m so worried if they’re suddenly gone and I won’t be able to withdraw more.”
PCEX initially announced a temporary closure on April 16, 2025, citing internal issues and pending regulatory processes.
Grindan told investors they could not withdraw their cash until January 2026, when a “review of all funds is completed”.
“There is no need to treat this issue with a speculative mentality and negativity… we will screen those who really believe in us to join the new projects. We will only lead those who trust us to make money,” Grindan said in a Telegram message.
That day, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) gave a warning on X, saying PCEX was operating in Kenya illegally.
“Kindly note that we have not approved or licensed CBEX/PCEX,” the regulator said in response to a social media query.
The CMA was referencing CBEX, another cryptocurrency and forex trading platform that, in April 2025, saw users lose their fortunes after their accounts were emptied.
The platform had attracted Kenyans, Nigerians and Egyptians with promises of AI-powered profits, referral bonuses and easy withdrawals, including returns of up to 30 percent in 30 days.
The following day, Grindan texted investors on Telegram to say PCEX’s services, including withdrawals and fund transfers to Binance, would resume on January 1, 2026.
In the meantime, he directed investors to another site called EXZZ and told people to continue depositing $500 as they awaited withdrawals on the PCEX platform. He termed it his way of making up to his investors for the revenue cuts.
At the time, he told investors in the Telegram group that there were seven months to January 1, 2026, and during this waiting period, they should continue investing “in order to avoid anyone’s income reduction in the PCEX review period”.
A Kenyan user later texted Grindan, referring to him as ‘Fake Professor’, to express his frustration over the money freeze. “I am at home trying to come to terms with the loss you made me incur,” the investor said.
In response, Grindan sent a direct message saying: “I understand your feelings very well, but it doesn’t matter; you can choose not to believe us. And wait patiently for PCEX’s fund review. Once PCEX completes the fund review, you can withdraw all your funds. Global Group will provide financial security for everyone.”
In January this year, the company did not reopen, and people lost their money.
“The platform has not reopened, and no official communication has been issued to clarify the delay or provide a new timeline,” one victim wrote on Facebook on January 4, 2026.
One GIG Telegram group seen by the Business Daily shows it has more than 62,900 members. It is not clear if they are all Kenyans. Grindan has since blocked members from sending messages to the group.
Despite the collapse of PCEX, GIG held a conference at what appears to be a large hall to celebrate its ‘first anniversary’ in Kenya in May this year, according to videos shared on TikTok.
It was around this period that the operation returned with QVSE. Grindan again used local agents to recruit teachers, small-scale traders, mid-level professionals and boda-boda operators into the scheme.
Investors deposited money into their QVSE accounts and waited for trading signals from ‘Prof Carl’, who messaged them on BonChat.
Those with a $500 principal earned $6 (Sh777) per trade, while investors who deposited $1,000 (Sh130,000) earned $12 (Sh1,553). This meant one could make at least Sh1,553 a day from the two trading sessions.
But unlike PCEX, Grindan sent two signals a day and used BonChat, which was more restricted compared to WhatsApp and Telegram. Investors could not take screenshots of group or one-on-one conversations on the platform, for instance.
Grindan did not interact with investors over calls. They only messaged him directly in case of issues with their QVSE accounts.
Multiple investors the Business Daily spoke to said that any comments by investors had to be approved by Grindan before they appeared on the main group.
Months later, the collapse of QVSE would follow a pattern similar to PCEX. On September 5, Grindan froze all accounts, accusing investors of creating multiple accounts to increase their trading limits.
He told members they needed to deposit another Sh65,000 or Sh129,000 to verify their accounts.
The CMA would, on September 12, issue another warning that QVSE was not licensed to operate in Kenya, but Grindan rejected the regulator’s statement and told investors to continue putting in money to unfreeze their accounts.
While he had initially promised investors that they would begin withdrawing their balances from September 12 if they deposited more cash, he pushed the deadline by a week to give investors more time to put in money.
“I am always with you—I have never left, and I will never disappear!” he said in a September 13 message on BonChat. “I will fully assist everyone through the withdrawal queue and continue leading everyone to create greater glory in the US stock market.”
