This is why Nigerians are so corrupt, people are always seeking easy money. I wonder if the government will get involve?

Sooner than expected, the bubble may have burst for investors in miracle finance schemes now in vogue, especially in Lagos and Ibadan. There are indications that the wonder banks have started crashing a few months after they hoodwinked thousands of depositors with jumbo interest as a bait so that they could lodge their money with the voodoo banks.


At least 10 depositors who deposited various sums of money with Treasureline Interlink Limited, one of the wonder banks, met the office under lock and key yesterday when they went to claim their huge interests which were due for collection.

The confused depositors waited endlessly in front of the No. 29, Airport Road, Ajao Estate, Lagos, office of the investment company, with none of the officials on sight. The officials have apparently vanished into thin air.

http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=17488

Did this bank escape SOLUDO?

@mamajama

just leave these miracle investment companies alone. They are here to teach Nigerians a good lesson. Money does not appear from thin air.

You can imagine a company that will tell you that if you invest $25, you will get back about $2,500 in five months. What kind of business are they going to engage in? Disappearing business of course.

Let them continue.

This is why I keep saying we have useless senators and law makers in Nigeria, if we have proper regulations to protect the citizens in the 1st place this kind of irregularities could have been prevented. What do we expect when people like ADENUGA helped IBB siphone Billion and return to Nigeria to open a technology firm and a royal title was bestowed on him for being and outstanding citizen.

It's about time we do a through research before investing

@mamajama

Soludo came out to condemn these new miracle investment groups, but the people refused to hear.

They said the government was just trying to keep them perpetually poor that was why Soludo was discrediting such a genuine business.

Abeg let Nigerians learn their lessons themselves. I've spent more than 30 dedicated hours throughout last month, educating people about the fraud behind those schemes but they won't listen.

chei! my #1.5 million dey inside. wetin i go do?

Mamajama:

This is why I keep saying we have useless senators and law makers in Nigeria, if we have proper regulations to protect the citizens in the 1st place this kind of irregularities could have been prevented. What do we expect when people like ADENUGA helped IBB siphone Billion and return to Nigeria to open a technology firm and a royal title was bestowed on him for being and outstanding citizen.

It's about time we do a through research before investing

Thats not a fair statement to make. In all fairness, Soludo severally warned Nigerians about depositing in these wonder banks but people failed to listen. The said he is in protecting interest of other the Mega banks because people no longer leave money in fixed deposit accounts. Now we turn around again to say the government is useless.
Haba, let us do less blame shifting and take responsibilty for our actions.

Thats not a fair statement to make. In all fairness, Soludo severally warned Nigerians about depositing in these wonder banks but people failed to listen.

Thats nothing. They have have task-force to physically close down such offices!

It is like saying dont buy faking medicine but you dont know what is fake + original

Govnt own it as duty to close such things down: people not only loose money, it erodes confidence in affected sector

@aisha2

Nigerians are just cruel. The same man that they refuted when he sternly warned them against this idea, he is the same one they are condemning for not warning them.

There are still human rights in Nigeria. Freedom of choice. Soludo cannot use chains to bind people in order to prevent them from casting their lifesavings into the ocean.

These are lessons Nigerians have to learn on their own. If these businesses were genuine, would the CBN itself have not invested our $45 billion foreign reserves in these miracle banks so that by December 2007 we would have $1 trillion?
People don't want to think rationally and they have to pay the price. This has surpassed money doubling it is money centupling that these miracle banks promised.
N3,000 for N250,000 in 6 months. What kind of fantasy is that.

aisha2:

Thats not a fair statement to make. In all fairness, Soludo severally warned Nigerians about depositing in these wonder banks but people failed to listen. The said he is in protecting interest of other the Mega banks because people no longer leave money in fixed deposit accounts. Now we turn around again to say the government is useless.
Haba, let us do less blame shifting and take responsibilty for our actions.

The 'business' is either legal or it is not. I'm sorry but warning Nigerians against investing is just not enough.

These businesses are very amphibius. You can hardly lay a hand on them.

The businesses are in a way legal because all they are asking you to do is to contribute some money towards investment in various sectors. So basically it could be illegal for the CBN to harass them.
But it is the returns are alarming. 10,000% in 6 months!

By the 4 months time, the businesses have closed shops and disappeared. This is when they have breached the law and then the perpetuators have disappeared! disappeared into thin air.

I dont agree. It's not every thing that government has to legislate upon. It goes against the grain of a liberal economy.

Nothing stops any individual or corporate body from promising another on the basis of trust, not law. It's left to the individual's discretion and the CBN has tried to inform that discretion. In law there's no case untill there's a case so prosecuting these organisations maybe foolhardy b4 the law and a nanny state scenerio.

@Topic

So this system of 419 still exists in Nigeria? Na wah oh!

Na wah O!

The old money doubling has been reinvented.

Government should have flogged all the people who went to put their money in such banks despite all Its warnings.

The government has the constitutional and legal right to close and prevent this kind of irregularities, if I am open a crack shop and the governmet knew about it, warning people not to patronize my business wont stop crack heads from coming for a quick fix, but closing my business and preventing me from getting a license will send a clear message, this is an example of advance fee fraud

Mamajama:

The government has the constitutional and legal right to close and prevent this kind of irregularities, if I am open a crack shop and the governmet knew about it, warning people not to patronize my business wont stop crack heads from coming for a quick fix, but closing my business and preventing me from getting a license will send a clear message, this is an example of advance fee fraud

There is a difference. 'Crack' is illegal. these banks were not under law.

Mariory:

There is a difference. 'Crack' is illegal. these banks were not under law.

Operations not under law surely can not be legal!

@mamajama

these businesses are in every way legal till they run away with your money. So till they run away with your money the government cannot arrest them or close them down. They can only advise citizens based on their suspicion.

Then that is a flaw in the process, all banks are under regulations, and the government enact those regulations.

@mamajama

what am telling you now is that the government cannot shut down HSBC just because it doesn't trust it board of directors. If it fulfils all its obligations then it should be left alone. But in this case, the CBN still went out of its way to warn the public about the strange 10,000% profits within six months.

You also have to realise that these enterprises are not really banks per se. THEY ARE NOT BANKS. They are small investment groups sometimes with no office or no office address. They are small contributory societies. They are a disaster waiting to happen. But poor people prefer to pin their hope on them for alleviation.

Why do Nigerians keep falling for this bait? There have been so many collapsed "wonder banks" in the past where people lost a lot of money and they dont seem to learn from all these. Im sure if another one opens shop before the end of this year, Nigerians will still go there and deposit their monies expecting jumbo interests.

these businesses are in every way legal till they run away with your money

absolute bladdish.

It is illegal since CBN have not authorise them as financial firm.

When will we take responsibilty for our actiions and stop blaming Everything on Government. Can you not use your brain to dictect a fraud? Even on Nairaland Members warned people and others were going on about taking a risk and trying their luck.
These Companies did not register as banks, They only open an account you can pay money into.

@babasin

so did the CBN also license you local alajo? Or did the CAC certify your shoemaker?

You guys should accept for once that the responsibility lies with the fools who invested in this sham. There is no OBJ to point at this time around.

@babasin

so did the CBN also license you local alajo? Or did the CAC certify your shoemaker?

You guys should accept for once that the responsibility lies with the fools who invested in this sham. There is no OBJ to point at this time around.

angel101:

Operations not under law surely can not be legal!

I meant the "banks" were NOT illegal under the law. That is, as far as the law is concerned, they are legal.

Why do Nigerians keep falling for this bait?

Its greed that brings about this kinds of things. I wonder, what kind of business are they investing in to yield such profits?

For God sake, what some of you are asking the government to do is to charge a man who is potentially dangerous for owning a kitchen knife.

It is not a crime to own a knife and it is not a crime to be potentially dangerous. Everybody is potentially dangerous.

The CBN did the best anyone could do. Advise the public against these organizations. It is not a crime to source contributory investment funds and it is not a crime to promise outstanding profits. What is illegal is disappearing with people's money. And once these people disappear, they disappear.

I personally, believe that this is a lessons Nigerians need to learn. If the CBN had used extra-Judicial means to ban these organizations, people would have continued saying that they're only doing it in order to keep Nigerians perpetually poor.

denex:

If the CBN had used extra-Judicial means to ban these organizations, people would have continued saying that they're only doing it in order to keep Nigerians perpetually poor.

Bingo! If the CBN had rolled up this organizations, the same people now holding the CBN responsible would have come out in defense of the same organizations.

It's hard to believe people can still be this dumb. . . or is it desperation?

DECEIT is the key any business preposition under the pretense of deceit is illegal and should not be allowed. The government has responsibility to prevent this quacks from operation in the 1st place. Who did they secure their license? people will always look for means of doubling their money, that is a risk we all take every day when we get in a car. there should have been legislation or sanction to prevent this kind of organize crime. fraud is a crime no matter how you disguise it.