Going by the fact that billions of Naira have exchanged hands among
MMM Nigeria members, a Ponzi Scheme that has just collapsed in Zimbabwe
and South Africa.
To know when MMM Nigeria will likely fizzle out, one just need to
look at how long it took in other countries before it collapsed.
The Chronicle of a Ponzi Fraud
MMM China using the name MMM Global started business in China in
April 2015. Promising millions of Chinese 100% return on investment,
Sergei Mavrodi in his usual arrogant manner denigrated Chinese
traditional financial system adopting Bitcoin and creating his own Ponzi
currency called the Mavro.
During the rise of the scheme, many quarters in the Bitcoin community
warned many Chinese citizens. Bobby Lee, CEO of Chinese Bitcoin
Exchange BTCC, the New York Times that:
But he said he had seen signs that Chinese investors were
using Bitcoin to move money into an international investment scheme,
MMM Global, which claims to have been created by a man who did prison
time in Russia after a previous Ponzi scheme collapsed.
Unfortunately for the its victim in China, after nine months of its
noisy existence, MMM China collapsed. While the government eventually
warned its citizens to stay away, it was little too late. The Ministry
of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for
Industry and Commerce warned Chinese citizens that investment in MMM
China
“Presents huge risks to investors because it is operating
illegally in the country and may have funneled funds abroad. MMM China
is among an emerging number of unlicensed organizations that aim to
attract online investors with promises of high returns while employing a
business model that looks to be a Ponzi scheme”.
The story of MMM South Africa began around the same time MMM China
started, but with a different ‘flavour’. The scheme in its usual noisy
manner pervaded the length and breadth of South Africa using the
business model as MMM-2011, claiming a “30% per month” return through a
“social financial network.
Things went south in less than three months after MMM China
collapsed. Many South Africans were melted when MMM could not meet up
with its withdrawal. Many MMM-linked accounts were also frozen by
Capitec Bank and others. The National Consumer Commission also gave its
verdict that MMM is a ponzi scheme, thereby making it illegal
operation.Six months after some sanity, MMM South Africa has been woken
up from the dead by some former Guiders who trying hard to get people to
PO (provide help, another word for deposit)
Surprisingly, the creation of MMM Nigeria came as a surprise to many
people especially many who have witnessed the ‘horror’ of financial loss
that it has wrecked in China and South Africa. PageOne eventually
revealed that MMM Nigeria might be on a running on a slightly different
trajectory as opposed to its South African operations.
One Earnest Mbanefo,
apparently a Nigerian, is the brain behind MMM. The intense and
extensive campaign launched by MMM in Nigeria could not have become so
‘noisily-successful’ with mere foreign boots on the ground. With the
help of Earnest and other Nigerians who understand the psyche of its
citizens, MMM Nigeria executed one of the most systematic and choking
investment recruitment ever in the history of Nigeria.
When Will MMM Nigeria Collapse?
As at today, MMM Nigeria is already in its sixth month operation.
Analysts are already predicting that give or take, the scheme might
finally collapse in the next three months. There are remote and
immediate causes that might quicken the process.
First is: should MMM Nigeria not able to dilute the raging negative
PR all around Nigeria, new members would dry up and the scheme would
crash faster than a park of cards. The second is a remote cause. The
scheme already has over 500,000 members since two months ago. It has not
surpassed this number in any significant way, such stagnancy is a
recipe for disaster for a Ponzi Scheme that relies on constant flow of
new and old members passing the ‘buck’
Many Nigerians have flocked to this Ponzi Scheme almost more than the
way and manner they have invested in the stock market or treasury
bills. The day it eventually collapse, many Nigerians who participated
in it would have written their names in history for all the wrong
reasons.
Comments
Post a Comment