Nigerians have recently been introduced to the popular MMM scheme. The controversial scheme who most “savvy investors” refer to as either a ponzi or pyramid scheme has garnered a lot of support from those who participate in it. Operators of the scheme in Nigeria have also not been ashamed to defend it vehemently despite the warning of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it did not recognize such a scheme.

It’s quite easy to understand why a lot of people defend this scheme. Firstly, it is highly profitable and very easy to understand. All you need to do is deposit money into someone’s account and then wait patiently for one more for someone else to deposit money into yours with an interest of about 30% in one month. No investment or business out there can beat such return.

The second reason of course is the fear that it could actually blow up if the media and critics in the social media continue to write negatively about it. This is because the scheme relies heavily on new incomers to sustain so the more circumspect people are to invest, the higher the rate of failure for the scheme which could mean millions of naira lost for early investors.

So what does it look like if this scheme fails? Luckily it is easy to find out. MMM is new in Nigeria but not new in Africa or indeed the world. A trip down to South Africa provides us an idea of what could happen if things go bad and early investors stop coming.

Just a few months ago (March 2016), MMM crashed in South Africa, forcing the scheme to reset. As such, members of the scheme who had invested and were awaiting their returns lost millions of rands. According to this article from a South African Website Fin24. Here is the full article as culled from the website including comments from frustrated investors.

MMM resets system causing panic among members
Cape Town – MMM SA members stand to lose thousands of rands after their accounts were frozen and the mavros points system was reset due to a lack of new money entering the alleged pyramid scheme.

Anonymous leaders of the South African wing of the alleged Russian pyramid scheme blamed “media panic” for the reboot on April 30.

MMM SA told members: “We have to declare a restart and start all over again. We have no choice.”

MMM members have voiced their concern on social media, with one claiming he is set to lose R30 000.

Facebook user BM Abinet said the last time he checked he had 35 798 mavros (which is equivalent to the rand currency), “but now the system says my old mavros is 5 798, so where’s my R30 000?”

MMM SA told members that all mavros from before April 30 were frozen and were now called “old mavros” and that “any operations with them are impossible”.

“With the development of the system, we will send 10% of total input to pay back the ‘old’ mavros.

“According to the experience of other countries, we can definitely say that in the normal course of events all the old mavros debts will be paid off in about six months.”

It said “new mavros (mavros bought from the moment of this announcement) are introduced. You can use them on a common basis to ‘acquire’ and ‘withdraw’ them at any time.”

“We will quickly pay off ‘old’ mavro debts, no doubt about it. You just have to wait.”

The same message was given to another alleged SA pyramid scheme Kipi, which last paid out “dreams” to its members in 2015. The system is very similar to MMM, but instead of “donations”, it uses “dreams”.

Kipi, also known as Mydeposit241, is one of several schemes under investigation by the National Consumer Commission. Others include WorldVentures, Make Believe, NMT Investments, Instant Wealth Club, Sikhese (Pty) Ltd and Wealth Creation Club.

Facebook user NK Njokweni wrote in April 2016: “Talk about Kipi because people are waiting for their money since December.”

MMM SA members are promised between 30% and 40% in returns for paying other people money on request. This donation model has been described as a pyramid scheme by most financial experts and is being investigated by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) as such.

It has also being described as a stokvel, which it is not, according to the National Stokvel Association of SA. It is not regulated by the SA Reserve Bank or any other regulator, so members who lose money won’t be able to seek justice.

However, the Hawks has requested the public to report the scheme to the police should they have a complaint. This will assist them in their investigation.

Facebook user EN Zamadlomo said: “What’s up with MMM with inability to pay our money, but want us to provide help how? Is MMM going down?”

Facebook user IO Oluhle said: “Something is not right. What’s going on? Where is our money? My dashboard is wiped clean.”

Facebook user I Maja said: “Mine too is wiped out. MMM systems have been frozen. Is it the end of MMM?”

Facebook user DM Luzitu said: “How am I going to take back my money, what am I going to tell people who get in behind me? Please help me.”

Responding to users querying what had happened to their promised future “donations”, a MMM member said: “To all members who requested ph (provide help) and they did not make any payment, your orders will be automatically cancelled because they are restarting from old mavros to new. So please if your request to ph is cancelled kindly make new ph with same amount or more again.

“We will not gh (get help) for two weeks because of we still updating the system. If you requested any gh and your order is not out yet, may you kindly cancel the requests because you will not be given any order for the next two weeks.

“All this is because of the long queue of gh that was requested after the panic pause caused by media … so now the system is restarting again for the better of our people.

“MMM is not crashing, but we are fixing the system to recover and operate as normal as before.”

In a line that reveals the potential pyramid scheme nature of MMM, the user said: “please recruit, recruit, recruit and ph, ph, ph to help the system to recover quickly”.

http://nairametrics.com/mmm-members-lose-millions-of-rands-as-scheme-crashes/

MMM is a great system if new members and more money gets pumped into the system.

But it's undoing is hinged on a simple thing called 'rumor'.
Rumor or media panic sadly is very easy to create. Rumor and the media will cause prospects to shun MMM and also make its users withhold their funds out of panic...and then the effect reverberates down the MMM system...

MMM subscribers in Nigeria can overcome this by working collectively to use Info-Tech and keep themselves together.

Am neither for nor against MMM

Lalasticlala. Front page please

MMM is modern day ( Plan well and Gold land ) don't waste your money....

Somebody better summarize this _shit because I don't have all the time in the world.

unite4real:
Nigerians have recently been introduced to the popular MMM scheme. The controversial scheme who most “savvy investors” refer to as either a ponzi or pyramid scheme has garnered a lot of support from those who participate in it. Operators of the scheme in Nigeria have also not been ashamed to defend it vehemently despite the warning of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it did not recognize such a scheme.

It’s quite easy to understand why a lot of people defend this scheme. Firstly, it is highly profitable and very easy to understand. All you need to do is deposit money into someone’s account and then wait patiently for one more for someone else to deposit money into yours with an interest of about 30% in one month. No investment or business out there can beat such return.

The second reason of course is the fear that it could actually blow up if the media and critics in the social media continue to write negatively about it. This is because the scheme relies heavily on new incomers to sustain so the more circumspect people are to invest, the higher the rate of failure for the scheme which could mean millions of naira lost for early investors.

So what does it look like if this scheme fails? Luckily it is easy to find out. MMM is new in Nigeria but not new in Africa or indeed the world. A trip down to South Africa provides us an idea of what could happen if things go bad and early investors stop coming.

Just a few months ago (March 2016), MMM crashed in South Africa, forcing the scheme to reset. As such, members of the scheme who had invested and were awaiting their returns lost millions of rands. According to this article from a South African Website Fin24. Here is the full article as culled from the website including comments from frustrated investors.

MMM resets system causing panic among members
Cape Town – MMM SA members stand to lose thousands of rands after their accounts were frozen and the mavros points system was reset due to a lack of new money entering the alleged pyramid scheme.

Anonymous leaders of the South African wing of the alleged Russian pyramid scheme blamed “media panic” for the reboot on April 30.

MMM SA told members: “We have to declare a restart and start all over again. We have no choice.”

MMM members have voiced their concern on social media, with one claiming he is set to lose R30 000.

Facebook user BM Abinet said the last time he checked he had 35 798 mavros (which is equivalent to the rand currency), “but now the system says my old mavros is 5 798, so where’s my R30 000?”

MMM SA told members that all mavros from before April 30 were frozen and were now called “old mavros” and that “any operations with them are impossible”.

“With the development of the system, we will send 10% of total input to pay back the ‘old’ mavros.

“According to the experience of other countries, we can definitely say that in the normal course of events all the old mavros debts will be paid off in about six months.”

It said “new mavros (mavros bought from the moment of this announcement) are introduced. You can use them on a common basis to ‘acquire’ and ‘withdraw’ them at any time.”

“We will quickly pay off ‘old’ mavro debts, no doubt about it. You just have to wait.”

The same message was given to another alleged SA pyramid scheme Kipi, which last paid out “dreams” to its members in 2015. The system is very similar to MMM, but instead of “donations”, it uses “dreams”.

Kipi, also known as Mydeposit241, is one of several schemes under investigation by the National Consumer Commission. Others include WorldVentures, Make Believe, NMT Investments, Instant Wealth Club, Sikhese (Pty) Ltd and Wealth Creation Club.

Facebook user NK Njokweni wrote in April 2016: “Talk about Kipi because people are waiting for their money since December.”

MMM SA members are promised between 30% and 40% in returns for paying other people money on request. This donation model has been described as a pyramid scheme by most financial experts and is being investigated by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) as such.

It has also being described as a stokvel, which it is not, according to the National Stokvel Association of SA. It is not regulated by the SA Reserve Bank or any other regulator, so members who lose money won’t be able to seek justice.

However, the Hawks has requested the public to report the scheme to the police should they have a complaint. This will assist them in their investigation.

Facebook user EN Zamadlomo said: “What’s up with MMM with inability to pay our money, but want us to provide help how? Is MMM going down?”

Facebook user IO Oluhle said: “Something is not right. What’s going on? Where is our money? My dashboard is wiped clean.”

Facebook user I Maja said: “Mine too is wiped out. MMM systems have been frozen. Is it the end of MMM?”

Facebook user DM Luzitu said: “How am I going to take back my money, what am I going to tell people who get in behind me? Please help me.”

Responding to users querying what had happened to their promised future “donations”, a MMM member said: “To all members who requested ph (provide help) and they did not make any payment, your orders will be automatically cancelled because they are restarting from old mavros to new. So please if your request to ph is cancelled kindly make new ph with same amount or more again.

“We will not gh (get help) for two weeks because of we still updating the system. If you requested any gh and your order is not out yet, may you kindly cancel the requests because you will not be given any order for the next two weeks.

“All this is because of the long queue of gh that was requested after the panic pause caused by media … so now the system is restarting again for the better of our people.

“MMM is not crashing, but we are fixing the system to recover and operate as normal as before.”

In a line that reveals the potential pyramid scheme nature of MMM, the user said: “please recruit, recruit, recruit and ph, ph, ph to help the system to recover quickly”.

http://nairametrics.com/mmm-members-lose-millions-of-rands-as-scheme-crashes/

Currently mmm is doing well in South Africa again, one thing with mmm is this it won't stop, if actually there is panic and eventually there is problem all that will be done is a restart, old mavro(balance) will be paid with time as soon as the system normalises.
One thing with mmm is this, it's actually met for people who understands it's ideology.
I have never seen a really transparent system like mmm.
One thing with Africans are our greed, in mmm site it started plainly that mmm is risky, we advice participant to participate with spare money(money you can afford to loose) but you see despite such warning you will see people who will turn mmm into an investment scheme, go against the rule like having multiple accounts, opening account for your whole family, borrowing money even from his enemy just to put in mmm.
Forgetting that mmm is a good will donation program, forgetting that when donating you don't borrow.
Let's keep mmm healthy, leave by the rules and mmm will last for us.
To gather we change the world.

Hmmm OK now
They tried sha

God help us.

MMM can never die....simple I am in RSA n its kicking well. Media is d only threat to MMM n participants are d only one to kill MMM as long as we understand MMM ideology no cause for alarm. Long live MMM. Guider Paul

kepstone:
MMM can never die....simple I am in RSA n its kicking well. Media is d only threat to MMM n participants are d only one to kill MMM as long as we understand MMM ideology no cause for alarm. Long live MMM. Guider Paul

Paul really so you mean all this are falsehood peddled by the media

a doomed dog will never listen to the call of the hunter.

we have seen all these before, perhaps humans are not known to learn from history.

that is why history continues to repeat itself because there are people who simply will never learn.

my message is strictly for the potential members to think deeply before taking the plunge.

The old members are stucked already, there is no way for them to grow except there are new mugus whose money will be shared for the so called "30%" return.

Because they need new members to sustain themselves, one can understand why they shamelessly defend the indefensible.

We all know all businesses are risky, in fact if it is not risky, it is no business but to tell me I should invest for 30% monthly return without any feasible or real business is the height of fraud. only a fellow fraudster will buy such crap.

It is part of the old members core mandate to repel or defend all negative comments both from concern individuals and the media.

like they say, if no new member, the system will automatically crash.

but all discerning minds know that such scheme is not sustainable over time. the more members are in, the more "30%" is needed to sustain the returns on investment.

Most of the old members will do anything to defend the faceless scheme to sustain their bogus returns at the expense of new members, that explains why they go after anyone with negative comments about the scheme.

Investing is good and risky anywhere in the world but must be done with the right understanding of the issues involved.
Even stock market is risky but there are physical companies doing legal and legitimate business with your money and they could either declare profit or loss as the case may be.

For me, I prefer to earn money with peace of mind, Warren buffet, Bill gate, Dangote, Otedola, Mike Adenuga etc have genuine businesses. if your success depends on the eventual misfortune of others, then the money may go away as fast as the wind.

enduring wealth comes from solving other peoples'problems and they will pay you handsomely for it. By creating and adding value to the community or society you become respected in your community and everybody gains.

Mellenials in nigeria wants to drive Bentley or Lamborghini from their bedrooms without lifting a finger. Quick riches is usually followed by poverty. Because their lifestyles thereafter are simply not sustainable.

you value money when you work hard for it. even as a country, because crude oil is nature's gift, we haven't been able to manage it very well because we simply didn't know the value. every state goes to Abuja for their share. Same applies to individuals. We weren't producing anything. we earn dollars from crude oil and we squandered the dollars to import everything importable.

A nation of indolent and lazy people will find it hard to prosper. just like it is said that there shouldn't be food for a lazy man who was sleeping and refuse to cultivate the land when others were planting but was blaming others for his failures during harvest.

When the reality sets in, we blame everyone around us but ourselves. it is the way nigerians are. The past and present government inclusive.

GEJ blamed his predecessor for not buying arms for the military, blamed book harm, Buhari blamed PDP for Nigeria's woes.

ironically, nigerians are equally divided in the blame game, while large numbers of the population believe Buhari is to be blamed for the recession, others think it is the 16 years of PDP but the rot was greatly amplified by GEJ.

In all this, most nigerians refuse to take responsibility for their wellbeing.

Back to the issue at hand.

The dooms day is near for all that are too greedy to stop, and think.

any which way, the old members of MMM may escape unhurt or with minimal casualty. The real and greatest casualty will be felt by the newbies in the scheme. They will be like the "ponds" in the game of chess.

well, I won't be suprised if some of them will insult me, it is expected.

but the days is counting and just like it has been in Russia, it will soon explode here too.

bayplus:
a doomed dog will never listen to the call of the hunter.

we have seen all these before, perhaps humans are not known to learn from history.

that is why history continues to repeat itself because there are people who simply will never learn.

my message is strictly for the potential members to think deeply before taking the plunge.

The old members are stucked already, there is no way for them to grow except there are new mugus whose money will be shared for the so called "30%" return.

Because they need new members to sustain themselves, one can understand why they shamelessly defend the indefensible.

We all know all businesses are risky, in fact if it is not risky, it is no business but to tell me I should invest for 30% monthly return without any feasible or real business is the height of fraud. only a fellow fraudster will buy such crap.

It is part of the old members core mandate to repel or defend all negative comments both from concern individuals and the media.

like they say, if no new member, the system will automatically crash.

but all discerning minds know that such scheme is not sustainable over time. the more members are in, the more "30%" is needed to sustain the returns on investment.

Most of the old members will do anything to defend the faceless scheme to sustain their bogus returns at the expense of new members, that explains why they go after anyone with negative comments about the scheme.

Investing is good and risky anywhere in the world but must be done with the right understanding of the issues involved.

The dooms day is near for all that are too grey to stop, and think.

any which way, the old members may escape unhurt or with the minimal casualty. The real and greatest casualty will be felt by the newbies in the scheme. They will be like the "ponds" in the game of chess.

well, I won't be suprised if some of them will insult me, it is expected.

but the days is counting and just like it has been in Russia, it will soon explode here too.

you have made your point now I believe you have received alerts for this long epistle. Well done

intbizoil:
you have made your point now I believe you have received alerts for this long epistle. Well done

I gave him the Alert.......