Victor Agi urges caution with investment decisions
December 2016 was a tipping point in Ponzi investment in Nigeria with the crash of the popular Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox, otherwise known as MMM. Several Nigerians across different social economic class, including celebrities, clergymen, business tycoons and low income earners who invested in the scheme, with the hope of reaping their Returns on Investment (RoI), were left disappointed when the operators announced it was freezing accounts of investors.
The reason the scheme’s operators gave for freezing the investment platform that promised its subscribers 30 percent ROI after one month, was to “prevent problems during the Yuletide.” Six years on, Nigerians are still expecting the “yuletide” to be over so they can recoup their investments.
The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) estimated that about three million Nigerians lost N18 billion to MMM, with the then Managing Director of the corporation, Umaru Ibrahim declaring:
“The ponzi scheme is the phenomenon of illegal fund managers, popularly called “WonderBanks” which have continued to defraud unsuspecting members of the public of their hard-earned money. This phenomenon has been a source for concern because despite our repeated warnings over the years, some members of the public have continued to fall victims of their fraudulent practices.
”We would like to reiterate the fact…
