seighapaul:
[b]Its quite unfortunate and unfair the length disgruntled individuals go just to discredit a system they "FEEL" will crash one day. Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that MMM is just an opening (financial opportunity) that will one day end. So why go through all these stress (can't believe you actually sat down and wrote all these serious allegations about a crime that hasn't event been committed in Nigeria) just to discredit a system that evidently is still paying.

Initially I had my reservations about MMM, but that doesn't give me the right to vehemently discredit the system and throw historical accusations and brand the system a "SCAM". I registered and joined the system to help me understand how it works and ultimately, find loopholes, flaws and bugs to predict an impending short term crash of the system. This is what you (OP: "NgcoboP" ) should have done before taking a pill for someone else headache. Please read about my first unbiased review after I joined the program,

https://www.nairaland.com/3249878/mmm-before-suicides-start#47953274

Now about your accusations that the founder is a convicted felon, who scammed Russians of their hard earned cash. I agree with you he got into trouble with the Russian government over the first launch of MMM years ago. But research properly and be unbiased, Sergei Mavrodi and 2 others didn't scam anyone, what they spent time for was Tax Evasion and not scam. Then the system was based on a traditional PONZI SCHEME, which had a central account and hence, the account should have been registered and taxable under any country laws. This had a serious negative repercussion on the balances of the MMM accounting model. Hence, sooner or later it had to crash, and participants were so emotional and vehemently tagged the system "SCAM".

This is similar to what happened in South Africa, but in this case, the financial institutions in South Africa in collaboration the government are against MMM and hell bent to stopping its activities. But this is a very difficult task, especially since MMM has re-strategized and introduce the "NO CENTRAL ACCOUNT" policy and couple with the fact that contributions are now private and between participants.

Now, fast forward to Nigeria, where the stage is a lot different from what happened in Russia and South Africa. We all know Nigerians are the most innovative and resourceful set of people in Africa, and also can be very corny and destructive. MMM Nigeria seem to have factored all the flaws and short-come of the system, and restructured it in such a way it will automatically eliminate any anomaly. One major area where i see that is yet to be addressed is the issue of "10% Referral Bonus" rush. This tend to flood the system with un-serious and ignorant participants. Pls read my comment about my experience with this referral bonus issue,

https://www.nairaland.com/3197420/mmm-platform-how-true-it/4#48410867

https://www.nairaland.com/3282927/mmm-real-deal-today#48428552

https://www.nairaland.com/3273710/mmm-nigeria-real#48645180

Above are my unbiased view of the system and I am in no way promoting MMM. I am just reviewing the program and making sure Nigerians are well informed about how the program works. MMM will one day crash (we all know that) but that shouldn't be an avenue to label her a "SCAM". Nobody in Nigeria has evidently accused MMM of scamming him/her. Its just an optional and regular online financial opportunity that his open to only those who understands and appreciate its ideology. This is my third month with the program and I quite now understand how its run.

I will advice any prospective applicant to first understand the system and its risk before joining. This is imperative and very important.

Thank you.[/b]

NgcoboP:

still doesn't change the scam or return/refund the millions of Rand lost to the MMM ponzi scheme.... no careful research over a scam needed, just avoid it! and if you insist be prepared to get your fingers burnt!

NgcoboP:
sell your father's house to "invest", I'll buy no problem..... your name n post are like words and opposites...

eameh30:
I've read everything U posted before entering mmm. It crashed then because of tax issues by d russian govt coz Mavrodi was maintaining it then like a bank where d money comes before going to d particiants and is also possible that it crashed and he went away with d money. But now tell me, wat has Mavrodi got to gain by crashing dis new version of mmm? Money doesn't pass tru him, U send directly to sumone's account and dey send directly to Urz, so even if its crashing, Mavrodi has nofin to gain

jmax22:
Hi,pls i want to use this medium to appeal to all mmm participants. Try as much as you can to educate ppl well enough on the ideologies of mmm before you sign them up.Let them know all the rules and how the system works. This has become an issue of concern as some members are completely ignorant of the ideologies or have incomplete information. When you register anyone, ensure to carry them along or add them to groups where they can ask more questions if need be. To avoid errors in bank transactions, its best to make your payments directly in the bank with bank tellers unless you have a good mobile bank app for transfers. If you are guider, pls try as much to be there for your participants when they need your attention,its your responsibility to do so. So pls lets keep in mind that with honesty, and a positive attitude, we can make mmm nigeria live longer and better. Together we change the world. Mavro.

jmax22 for President 2019

akoldi:
Except Mavrodi has his own personal account and he is also participating actively in the system. Then I can say he can easily manipulate the system to favour his account. Just saying.
MMM is cool when one understands its operations but one has to be disciplined and avoid greed.

jmax22:
Hi,pls i want to use this medium to appeal to all mmm participants. Try as much as you can to educate ppl well enough on the ideologies of mmm before you sign them up.Let them know all the rules and how the system works. This has become an issue of concern as some members are completely ignorant of the ideologies or have incomplete information. When you register anyone, ensure to carry them along or add them to groups where they can ask more questions if need be. To avoid errors in bank transactions, its best to make your payments directly in the bank with bank tellers unless you have a good mobile bank app for transfers. If you are guider, pls try as much to be there for your participants when they need your attention,its your responsibility to do so. So pls lets keep in mind that with honesty, and a positive attitude, we can make mmm nigeria live longer and better. Together we change the world. Mavro.

seighapaul:




[b]The SA Financial Institutions are the ones to blame for the inability of the system to pair its participants. Remember, MMM doesn't keep or operate a central account. So participant monies are not in MMM vaults, the monies are in participant's private bank account. Its the banks that freezes suspected participants account with government giving them power to operate. Even SA participants were warned to stay away from Bitcoins. You now understand why participants stopped Providing Help (PH), this affected the payment system of the program. The fear that the banks will detect and freeze any account that is suspected in participating in the program. In my own view, its just a way for the financial institutions to discredit its competitors and put them out of business.

Again, fast forward to Nigeria. Lets examine worst case scenario, even if our banks decide to go the SA route, its not going to be instantly. There will be a process and court scenes and warning from the government, public notices, newspaper ads, social media buzz etc... any hardcore participant will read the signs that it is time to quit. Remember MMM prides itself on its 30% returns in 30 days policy, so everyone in MMM will have 30 - 45 days to quit before the banks finalize their destructive plans.[/b]

seighapaul:
[b]Its quite unfortunate and unfair the length disgruntled individuals go just to discredit a system they "FEEL" will crash one day. Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that MMM is just an opening (financial opportunity) that will one day end. So why go through all these stress (can't believe you actually sat down and wrote all these serious allegations about a crime that hasn't event been committed in Nigeria) just to discredit a system that evidently is still paying.

Initially I had my reservations about MMM, but that doesn't give me the right to vehemently discredit the system and throw historical accusations and brand the system a "SCAM". I registered and joined the system to help me understand how it works and ultimately, find loopholes, flaws and bugs to predict an impending short term crash of the system. This is what you (OP: "NgcoboP" ) should have done before taking a pill for someone else headache. Please read about my first unbiased review after I joined the program,

https://www.nairaland.com/3249878/mmm-before-suicides-start#47953274

Now about your accusations that the founder is a convicted felon, who scammed Russians of their hard earned cash. I agree with you he got into trouble with the Russian government over the first launch of MMM years ago. But research properly and be unbiased, Sergei Mavrodi and 2 others didn't scam anyone, what they spent time for was Tax Evasion and not scam. Then the system was based on a traditional PONZI SCHEME, which had a central account and hence, the account should have been registered and taxable under any country laws. This had a serious negative repercussion on the balances of the MMM accounting model. Hence, sooner or later it had to crash, and participants were so emotional and vehemently tagged the system "SCAM".

This is similar to what happened in South Africa, but in this case, the financial institutions in South Africa in collaboration the government are against MMM and hell bent to stopping its activities. But this is a very difficult task, especially since MMM has re-strategized and introduce the "NO CENTRAL ACCOUNT" policy and couple with the fact that contributions are now private and between participants.

Now, fast forward to Nigeria, where the stage is a lot different from what happened in Russia and South Africa. We all know Nigerians are the most innovative and resourceful set of people in Africa, and also can be very corny and destructive. MMM Nigeria seem to have factored all the flaws and short-come of the system, and restructured it in such a way it will automatically eliminate any anomaly. One major area where i see that is yet to be addressed is the issue of "10% Referral Bonus" rush. This tend to flood the system with un-serious and ignorant participants. Pls read my comment about my experience with this referral bonus issue,

https://www.nairaland.com/3197420/mmm-platform-how-true-it/4#48410867

https://www.nairaland.com/3282927/mmm-real-deal-today#48428552

https://www.nairaland.com/3273710/mmm-nigeria-real#48645180

Above are my unbiased view of the system and I am in no way promoting MMM. I am just reviewing the program and making sure Nigerians are well informed about how the program works. MMM will one day crash (we all know that) but that shouldn't be an avenue to label her a "SCAM". Nobody in Nigeria has evidently accused MMM of scamming him/her. Its just an optional and regular online financial opportunity that his open to only those who understands and appreciate its ideology. This is my third month with the program and I quite now understand how its run.

I will advice any prospective applicant to first understand the system and its risk before joining. This is imperative and very important.

Thank you.[/b]

NgcoboP:
South Africa 2016: LIKE play like play I warned them about investing in HYIP and rather do a physical business like trading, imports and exports..... but stubbornly they refused and laughed at me.... I kept quiet watched them put in the hard earned money... fastforward a few weeks later they had been duped.... "problems with the repayment system" meaning the fraudsters' exit strategy. No substitute for hardwork keep your money.... do legit biz deals. Avoid unnecessary suffering..

They the six Nigerians were introduced into the scheme by a friend who had also profited (but also lost out in the end), and they in turn brought in friends looking for easy money (MMM claim to offer) .... one of them got a pay out and that gingered more people to "invest" and by the time it collapsed the number of victims were more than those who benefited or profited from the scheme. The koko of the yarnyarn it that the victims outstrips the beneficiaries..... be wise, the initiators of the scheme have their own exit strategies ..... Nigeria is tough without getting scammed as it is already.... don't let yourself be scammed. #peaceout....

Thank you. I decided to make this thread as a result of posts I have been seeing about MMM please be wise, don't be lured by easy money. Read the book "the richest man in babylon"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(Ponzi_scheme_company)
МММ was a Russian company that perpetrated one of the world's largest Ponzi schemes of all time, in the 1990s.[1][2] By different estimates from 5 to 40 million people lost up to $10 billion. The exact figures are not known even to the founders.

Contents [hide]
1 History
2 See also
3 References
4 External links
History[edit]
MMM was established in 1989 by Sergei Mavrodi,[2] his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi, and Olga Melnikova. The name of the company was taken from the first letters of the three founders' surnames.

Initially, the company imported computers and office equipment. In January 1992, tax police accused MMM of tax evasion, leading to the collapse of MMM-bank, and causing the company to have difficulty obtaining financing to support its operations. Faced with difficulties in funding its foreign trade, the company switched to the financial sector. It offered American stocks to Russian investors, but met with little success. Later, MMM-Invest was created for the purpose of collecting vouchers during privatisation. This effort was similarly unsuccessful.[citation needed]

MMM created its successful Ponzi scheme in 1994. The company started attracting money from private investors, promising annual returns of up to one thousand percent. It is unclear whether a Ponzi scheme was Mavrodi's initial intention, inasmuch as such extravagant returns might have been possible during the Russian hyperinflation in such commerce as import-export.[citation needed]

MMM grew rapidly. In February 1994, the company reported dividends of 1,000%, and started an aggressive TV ad campaign. Since the shares were not quoted on any stock exchange and the company itself determined the share price, it maintained a steady price growth of thousands of percent annually, leading the public to believe its shares were a safe and profitable investment.[citation needed]

An important factor in the scheme's success was word of mouth, but most of the company's success came from its extremely aggressive ad campaign, which appealed to the general public by using "ordinary" characters that viewers could identify with. The most famous of them, a "folk hero" of early 1994, was Lyonya Golubkov. Another notable marketing effort was a giveaway of free Metro trips to all Moscow citizens on a particular day. MMM also was one of the first well-known companies in Russia with a logotype and slogans ("Flying from shadow to the light" and others).[citation needed]

At its peak the company was taking in more than 100 billion rubles (about 50 million USD) each day from the sale of its shares to the public. Thus, the cashflow turnover at the MMM central office in Moscow was so high that it could not be estimated. The management started to count money in roomfuls (1 roomful of money, 2 roomfuls of money, etc.).[citation needed]

Regular publication in the media of the rising MMM share price led President Boris Yeltsin to issue a decree in June 1994 prohibiting financial institutions from publicising their expected income.[citation needed]

The success of MMM in attracting investors led to the creation of other similar companies, including Tibet, Chara, Khoper-Invest, Selenga, Telemarket, and Germes. All of these companies were characterised by aggressive television advertising and extremely high promised rates of return. One company promised annual returns of 30,000%.[citation needed]

On July 22, 1994, the police closed the offices of MMM for tax evasion. For a few days the company attempted to continue the scheme, but soon ceased operations. At that point, Invest-Consulting, one of the company's subsidiaries, owed more than 50 billion rubles in taxes (USD 26 million), and MMM itself owed between 100 billion and 3 trillion rubles to the investors (from USD 50 million to USD 1.5 billion). In the aftermath at least 50 investors, having lost all of their money, committed suicide.[citation needed]

Several organisations of "deceived investors" made efforts to recover their lost investments, but Sergei Mavrodi manipulated their indignation and directed it at the government. In August 1994 Mavrodi was arrested for tax evasion. However, he was soon elected to the Russian State Duma, with the support of the "deceived investors". He argued that the government, not MMM, was responsible for people losing their money, and promised to initiate a pay-back program. The amount ultimately paid back was minuscule compared to the amount owed.[citation needed]

In October 1995, the Duma cancelled Mavrodi's right to immunity as a deputy. In 1996, he tried to run for Russia's presidency, but most of the signatures he received were rejected. MMM declared bankruptcy on September 22, 1997.[citation needed]

While it was believed that Sergei Mavrodi left Russia and moved to the United States, it is possible that he stayed in Moscow, using his money to change apartments regularly and employ a group of former special agents. With the help of a distant relative he started Stock Generation Ltd., another pyramid scheme based around trading non-existent companies' stocks in a form of the "stock exchange game" on the company's site, stockgeneration.com. Despite a bold-letter warning on the main page that the site was not a real stock exchange, between 20,000 and 275,000 people, according to various estimates, fell for the promised 200% returns and lost their money. According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, losses of victims were at least USD 5.5 million.[citation needed]

Mavrodi was found and arrested in 2003. While in custody, Mavrodi was given until January 31, 2006 to read the documents in his fraud case against him (The criminal case consisted of 650 volumes, each 250-270 pages long).[citation needed] At the end of April 2007, Mavrodi was convicted of fraud, and given a sentence of four and a half years. Since he had already spent over four years in custody, he was released less than a month later, on May 22, 2007.[citation needed] He later went on to creating yet another pyramid scheme called MMM-2011.

The MMM scandal led to increased regulation of the Russian stock market, but the legacy of the fraud led many to become extremely suspicious of any joint stock companies.

In 2015 MMM began operating in South Africa with the same business model as MMM-2011, claiming a "30% per month" return through a "social financial network".[3] The group was identified as a possible pyramid scheme by the National Consumer Commission and accounts of clients were later frozen by Capitec Bank.[4] In response to mounting criticism and official investigations by state authorities in 2016 supporters of the South African MMM scheme staged a protest march in Johannesburg.[5]

In 2016, MMM launched a website targeting the Nigerian audience.[6]

eameh30:
I've read everything U posted before entering mmm. It crashed then because of tax issues by d russian govt coz Mavrodi was maintaining it then like a bank where d money comes before going to d particiants and is also possible that it crashed and he went away with d money. But now tell me, wat has Mavrodi got to gain by crashing dis new version of mmm? Money doesn't pass tru him, U send directly to sumone's account and dey send directly to Urz, so even if its crashing, Mavrodi has nofin to gain

Basildvalour:
If Mavrodi doesn't gain, who gives everyone a signup bonus of $20 and why is the signup bonus limited to the first amount exceeding #10,999

passyhansome:


Just finish reading your pathetic writeup written by a pathetic person, your claims are mendacious, guess u needed attention so inputed those examples your friends, firstly am not here to promote MMM. But the truth remains that even when u join the platform they inform you about the risk involved, Risk as we know is a daily activity we do for survival. Greediness and impatience is what Majority of Nigerians suffers from even on the platform you are advised to use your spare money and nobody forces you to join, about the founder we know about his claimed criminal records take it or leave MMM has transformed alot of lives recently. MY ADVICE IS PARTICPATE WITH WHAT YOU CAN LOOSE

NgcoboP:
SOUTH AFRICA: PONZI-SCHEME HAS FINALLY COLLAPSED!
Cape Town – Russian convict Sergey Mavrodi has allegedly gone into hiding after announcing that his Bitcoin-based MMM Global scheme had failed and was shutting down this weekend.

MMM South Africa – its local branch - is one of nine companies being investigated for being an alleged Ponzi scheme by the South African Police Service’s Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit, after the National Consumer Commission’s initial probe in 2015.

The South African “community” has been growing in numbers over the years, as South Africans seek ways to escape debt and poverty. It has even been described as a stokvel by some, and has become an emotive topic for those who buy into it.



Officially, the SA platform said its members are encouraged to donate money to others by rewarding them with the bitcoin-linked virtual currency - Mavros - in return, and can apparently get 30% return on their rand investment by doing so. A Ponzi scheme occurs when a return is 20% higher than the repo rate, which in SA is 7%.

“We regret to inform you that we have to close down the Republic of Bitcoin. It was an experiment, and, unfortunately, it failed,” the last Facebook entry on MMM Global states. “We turned out not to be able to pay 100% per month.”



The alleged scheme is based on the bitcoin currency, which is a digital asset and a payment system. The South African version of MMM, which offers 30% returns, is still operational and said the crash will not affect is members.

MMM describes the system as a “technical basic program, which helps millions of participants worldwide to find those who need help, and those who are ready to provide help for free”. To create a personal account people must donate a sum of money which would allegedly be paid to an existing user who had made a donation request.

For the given money participants are granted with a number of “Mavros ” – MMM digital currency – equivalent to the sum which was donated. It is claimed that twice a week the system pays interest on users’ Mavros accounts – up to 30 percent per month. Users can request an ever-increasing sum of money equivalent to the number of Mavros they have. In his weekly online address to South Africa Mavrodi positively assessed the current developments of MMM in the country. “Everything is wonderful in South Africa. The dynamics of the development are high. The participants and managers are active… Everybody is paid,” he said. MMM claims that South Africa is just one of many countries in which the pyramid scheme operates.

The website reports about MMM activities in Russia, Ukraine, India, Indonesia and other countries. It also had a presentation in Maseru, Lesotho, on August 1. The MMM South Africa page in Facebook has more than 22,000 likes showing that the scheme is popular. Sergey Mavrodi is known for creating the biggest finance pyramid in Russia which collapsed in 1994 leaving thousands (according to some unofficial estimates – millions) of people without their money. According to further estimates, MMM clients lost over $100,000 million.

After the collapse of MMM, which was a classic Ponzi scheme, Mavrodi disappeared. He was found and arrested in Moscow in 2003. In 2007 he was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison but was released having spent all the time between his arrest and judicial verdict in prison. After his release Mavrodi created a number of financial pyramids such as MMM-2011 and MMM-2012. Both of them collapsed shortly afterwards

http://searchsa.co.za/useful-info/MMM-PONZI-SOUTH-AFRICA-PYRAMID-SCHEME-COLLAPSES

smellingmenses:

Interesting. Lions like me don't care about the opinions of sheep of your kind

[s]The gospel of salvation is not for everyone[/s]

passyhansome:


You are deluded to call those jargons gospel of salvation.

natakin:


Pele...hope say hand no pain you...I see you are new in naira land. ..3days old..something fishy here...information is everywhere now you heard....assignment number 1. Go to YouTube and post a link of a single complaint from any MMM member worldwide...please argue with facts....show people you are Inegligent. ..do not come and waste space by pasting wiki...and low level hungry blog contents here...Nigerians are far far smarter....
2. Do the world a favour by mentioning the names of your neighbours....

smellingmenses:

Intelligent. I can't be training you not my job. But then from my kind heart.

You will complain soonest don't worry.

natakin:


So cheap..that was a typo moFo...well you cheap sha....

iamawara:
nigerians.... why all this hate on MMM, i was about to invite one of my Neighbor on this MMM and that was how another idi*t discouraged him never to try MMM that it was a scam. i dint stress my self, i went ahead with my Mavro things not knowing that the idi*t that prevented my neighbor from joining MMM was a member of MMM for 6 good months, and never wanted my neighbor to benefit from it. i dont know why some Nigerians will continue to follow up some dead threads on NL, they dont want you to join, they dont want you to be greater than them one day. let me tell you, i have benefited a lot from MMM, i am a graduate but never brther my self with job anymore, By God grace MMM will last long in Nigeria. bad belle is allowed

Timo2net:
life is all about risk my brother am not yet a member of mmm but it also work like hyip program,we all know even all this program pay now it we surely turn into a scam one day but before the story you can make you money.