Meet Pulse Glide: A Scam Masquerading as a Legitimate E-Scooter Company

Scams are constantly evolving—adopting new techniques to stay ahead of regulators, journalists, and increasingly aware victims.

One of the most elaborate and visually convincing scams to surface in recent months is the Pulse Glide scam, a scheme that presents itself as a shared electric scooter business while disguising its true purpose: a deposit-taking, recruitment-driven scam.

What sets Pulse Glide apart from most is its blending of real-world optics with digital deceit. It is not just a faceless website or app. It has store-like setups, physical branding, and a social media presence that mimics a legitimate startup. From promotional events to printed signage, Pulse Glide has gone to considerable lengths to manufacture credibility.

But behind this curated image lies an unregistered, non-compliant financial scam that has now crossed borders and continues to ensnare unsuspecting investors under the guise of technology and progress.

The Outer Shell: A Scooter Brand with Big Claims

Pulse Glide introduces itself through its website pggle.com, describing itself as a company “focusing on shared power scooter technology.” It claims to have launched in 2022 and boasts what can only be described as laughably inflated figures:

“We have a professional team of 50 senior research method technicians and a large technical team of 300 people… To date, more than 7 million users in more than 30 countries have used Pulse Glide shared scooters.”

But there is no evidence of this scale. There are no real scooter-sharing statistics, no verifiable partnerships, and no visibility in the global micromobility space. The site itself is a hastily built HTML template, with poorly structured content and an overall lack of professionalism. And while it tries to look like a manufacturer, distributor, or technology firm, there is no mention of actual operations, supply chains, logistics, or even staff profiles.

This “brand” only exists online and through isolated physical signage designed to reassure those unfamiliar with how real scooter tech companies operate. Its corporate narrative is a smokescreen—a necessary illusion to obscure what is really going on behind the scenes.

What It Actually Is: A Scam with a Fake Physical Presence

At face value, Pulse Glide appears to be a niche e-scooter startup, perhaps just starting out. But when you peel back the glossy branding and curated showroom photos, it becomes clear this is not a business—it’s a front.

What Pulse Glide does differently is introduce a physical layer of deception. While many scams operate exclusively in the digital realm, Pulse Glide uses small retail setups, signs, and even props like three scooters to convince the public that something tangible exists. The purpose is simple: if it looks real, people will invest.

But even these setups are questionable. In some cases, they appear to be staged for photos only. It’s plausible that storefronts are rented short-term, signage photoshopped, or locations handpicked for visual impact rather than operational function.

This isn’t just fakery—it’s calculated performance. The presence of scooters and signage is intended to invoke a sense of legitimacy, to calm doubts, and to allow recruiters to say, “Look, it’s a real company. See the shop?” But what they’re really showing you is a prop room.

The Real Operation: From Showroom to Scam Platform

Once interest is piqued—often via word of mouth or targeted social media content—potential victims are directed to a different domain: pulsegra.com, which hosts a scam dashboard platform.

This site is where the scam truly operates. Users are invited to “invest” in scooters, which they are told will generate daily income through public rentals. The numbers are intentionally enticing:

• Invest $2,600, and earn $93 per day.
• Invest $48,000, and supposedly receive $1,680 per day.
• Annualised, this would produce over R11 million in “returns.”

These numbers are mathematically unsustainable and economically impossible—especially in a business with high infrastructure costs like scooter-sharing. What the platform actually relies on is recruitment. Its commission model is structured like a classic pyramid scheme, with bonuses for onboarding new investors and their recruits, up to nine levels deep.

At no point does the platform show actual scooter usage, rental data, maintenance operations, or ride logs. All of its income is theoretical—and always contingent on more people joining.

The Most Disciplined Scam Yet?

What makes Pulse Glide distinct is its strict control of information. Unlike typical scams that rely on viral links, apps, or open registration, Pulse Glide takes a disciplined, closed-door approach.

The pulsegra.com link is rarely shared publicly. Screenshots of the dashboard are selectively circulated. Conversations are held via direct messages, and potential recruits are often told not to post or talk publicly about the opportunity. Some even claim this secrecy is “to protect the business model.”

But this isn’t about discretion. It’s about avoiding detection. Many scams targeting South Africans over the past year have tried to reduce visibility after realising how quickly investigative reports, such as ours, lead to takedown notices and law enforcement awareness. Pulse Glide is arguably the most controlled version of this—avoiding apps, skipping public links, and camouflaging itself under a “clean tech” narrative.

It’s a scam hiding behind a PR mask, and it’s learned from the failures of its predecessors.

The Regulatory Reality

No matter how polished the brand appears, Pulse Glide is not registered in South Africa. A search on the CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) confirms that Pulse Glide does not exist as a legal entity locally.

More critically, given its promises of daily returns and the investment-like structure of its operations, Pulse Glide should be registered as a financial services provider. But a check on the FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority) database reveals that it holds no licence to operate as an FSP in South Africa.

This means it is illegally taking money from the public, making financial promises it cannot legally fulfil, and presenting itself as a functioning investment platform when it is neither regulated nor compliant.

This is not a grey area—it is unlawful.

Cross-Border Targeting

South Africa is just one of several countries where Pulse Glide is spreading. Since 18 March 2025, Google Trends shows marked increases in search interest from Eswatini, Kosovo, Zimbabwe, and Albania. The scam’s organisers have clearly set their sights on regions with low regulatory awareness and fertile ground for recruitment.

In Eswatini, the scam’s profile grew quickly—so much so that the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) issued an alert on 27 March 2025, explicitly warning the public not to engage with Pulse Glide. The regulator stated:

“Pulse Glide unlawfully collects monthly amounts from the public, and its agents are not licensed by the FSRA. It encourages the public to invest in this illegal collective investment scheme by promising unrealistic monthly returns.”

The FSRA’s alert came amid a push by Pulse Glide to portray itself as a benevolent player. In Eswatini, photos surfaced showing the brand donating food and running charity drives—tactics clearly intended to sanitise the scam’s image and gain community trust.

The Corporate Registration Game

Pulse Glide’s structure mirrors that of several other scams targeting Southern Africa. The platform pulsegra.com was registered on 28 May 2024, with a Colorado, USA listing. Meanwhile, the decoy site pggle.com was registered on 19 April 2024 and references East London, South Africa—a convenient address to bolster the illusion of local legitimacy.

According to documents filed with the Colorado Secretary of State, Pulse Glide Limited was incorporated under the name of one J Bohan at an address on Curtis Street, Denver, CO. The entity authorises 5 million shares and claims to be a profit-making corporation.

This follows a familiar trend. Several scams targeting South Africans have used Colorado as a digital smokescreen, either through domain registration or incorporation:

• ADNOC Investment and Skybound Reach both registered their domains using Colorado addresses.
• Hot Farm, however, went further—fully incorporating as a Colorado-based entity.

Whether through domain listings or incorporation, Colorado has become a recurring base for these schemes. It offers just enough legitimacy to confuse potential investors, while remaining largely out of reach from African regulators and law enforcement.

Manufactured Credibility: Charity Drives and Visual Theatre

Pulse Glide has not only worked to build a digital brand but has leaned heavily on performative charity to boost its credibility.

Images from Eswatini show branded boxes of groceries, influencers delivering food to children, and staged donation events. These public relations efforts are designed to build goodwill, silence critics, and slow suspicion. In some cases, local influencers amplify these moments to suggest Pulse Glide is “giving back” or “helping the community.”

But make no mistake—this is not generosity. It’s optics. And worse, the money funding these stunts likely comes from new victims. This cycle of extract, launder reputation, and recruit again is one of the most pernicious hallmarks of scams like Pulse Glide.

The Final Verdict

Pulse Glide is not a startup. It is not building a network of smart scooters. It is not revolutionising green tech. It is a highly calculated financial scam, packaged in modern branding, cloaked with public relations, and strategically deployed across borders that make regulation and enforcement difficult.

The brilliance of the scam lies in its appearance of normalcy. The scooters—at least the three they conjure up from various unrelated brands for the showroom—are real. The storefronts exist—though at times photoshopped or temporary. And the photos are polished. But the core is rotten: there are no rentals, no audited operations, and no legitimate profit model.

This is not a business. It is a system designed to extract funds, fuelled by secrecy, recruitment, and a carefully manufactured illusion of credibility.

If you’re being asked to invest in something you can’t fully access, whose links you’re told not to share, and which promises extraordinary returns without regulatory approval—walk away.

A scam with signage is still a scam. Props don’t make profit. And branding does not equal legitimacy.