Nigerian subscribers of Ponzi scheme, Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox, popularly known as MMM, were thrown into panic and confusion yesterday, following the message from the Ponzi scheme that it was freezing all confirmed Mavros, otherwise known as money, due for withdrawal for one month.
The development came barely 24 hours after Sergey Mavrodi, founder of the money spinning Ponzi scheme, wrote an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, seeking his understanding to ensure the scheme does not crash.
The suspension was relayed yesterday morning in a disclaimer on the scheme’s website, informing the participants that the action was due to an overload. The message also said the action was meant to avert a crash of the scheme.
The operators of the scheme however assured subscribers that it won’t go burst just yet, stressing that the suspension would only last for one month.
The news, however, immediately sent shock waves of apprehension to Nigerian participants of the scheme whose population is put at over 3 million.
Parts of the statement read:
“Dear members, as usual, in the New Year season the System is experiencing heavy workload. Moreover, it has to deal with the constant frenzy provoked by the authorities in the mass media.”
“The things are still going well; the participants feel calm; everyone gets paid– as you can see, there haven’t been any payment delays or other problems yet – but!… it is better to avoid taking risk. (Moreover, there are almost three weeks left to the New Year.)”
“Hence, on the basis of the above mentioned, from now on, all confirmed Mavros will be frozen for a month.”
“The reason for this measure is evident. We need to prevent any problems during the New Year season, and then, when everything calms down, this measure will be cancelled. (Which we will definitely do”, the administrators said while pleading for “understanding” from subscribers.
The reassuring tone of the statement did not however assuage the shock and apprehension for millions of the participants who are due for payment after having ‘Provided Help’ (PH) to other persons in the previous month and were earnestly waiting for their 30 days maturation to get back their money and a 30 percent bonus. They now have to exercise patience until January for them to Get Help (GP) in the MMM parlance.
The social media has been awash with lamentation of participants, especially many who joined the scheme only recently. However, many of those who have been in the system say they are not counting any losses as they have benefited immensely from the scheme.
They blamed the Federal Government for its ploy to destroy a scheme which they say has helped to lift many Nigerians out of poverty.
According to them, the Federal Government and the banking sector, spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria, have conspired to ensure that the MMM programme crashes in Nigeria. They aver that Nigerians would feel the harshest bite of the current economic recession if the government allows the scheme to crash.
The AUTHORITY finding reveals that several banks in the country have issued warnings to their customers to desist from participating in the scheme, describing it as a scam. Some have even sanctioned their staff found to be participating and canvassing it to bank customers.
However, a bank expert, who gave his name as Modestus Nwankwo, said the banks were only envious that the scheme was providing funds which the banks refused to provide to customers.
According to him, “Banks collect deposits, give little or no interest and charge huge interests to customers seeking loans”. This, he said, is a contradiction of what the scheme sets out to do.
Nwankwo noted that there was no cause for alarm, stressing that the government and the banks cannot crash the programme since there is no pool where the funds from participants are deposited. He also said that the founder invented the economic scheme to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich in a capitalist economy.
