Although there has been series of warnings from concerned bodies and more recently from the Securities Exchange Commission, SEC, on the suspected illusiveness of a Russian Ponzi Scheme, MMM, which was introduced to the country recently, Nigerians seem not to be discouraged.
Market Place observed that many entrepreneurs, especially the youth have resorted to the virtual investment scheme described as pyramid scheme by financial analysts to gain financial edge as well as building their businesses.
The MMM according to information on its website, is a mutual aid programme which provide financial help on the principle of gratuitousness, reciprocity and benevolence. Registered members help each other by providing a certain sum of money (as ordered by the operator) and such paid amount is expected to yield a 30 per cent increase at the end of the month.
In a chat with a registered member who simply identified himself as Ezekiel, he hinted that he had made quite a lot of fortune from the arrangement and urged many others to follow suit considering the present economy situation .He added that he was not discouraged and not surprised by the rising antagonising write-ups and media hypes against the scheme as he believed that they were being sponsored by financial institutions in the country who may not have been favoured and threatened by the programme.
However, the SEC had through its website issued a warning to Nigerians to distance themselves from the scheme which it said was fraudulent.
“The commission hereby notifies the investing public that the operation of this investment scheme has no tangible business model hence it’s a Ponzi scheme, where returns are paid from other people’s invested sum. Also, its operation is not registered by the commission.
“We therefore advise the general public to distance themselves from the online scheme. Please note that anyone that subscribes to this illegal activity does so at his or her own risk”, SEC warned in a statement.
