₦airaland Forum

Qudus94:
your whatsapp link is incorrect . check it
I'll like to join it

yeah..Thanks for the observation but I think nairaland does not accept such links here. You can check my profile/signature for my whatsapp number.

Rheminx:
Thanks so much for this info!...how can i reach you please no number

Contact me on whatsapp..Check my profile/signature for whatsapp number

Is Bitcoin going to fork? Protect your Bitcoin!

If you have not been paying attention, 01.08.17 is going to be a great day in the bitcoin network because that is when Bitcoin network “upgrades”.

The truth is nobody can predict 100 percent what the outcome or what will happen after the fork.

So, therefore, One needs to be prepared for what will happen on and after August 1st, 2017.

The truth is most people store their Bitcoin on hot storage e.g online wallet(blockchain.info, coinbase, etc.)
One of the risks attached is when the fork happens on August 1st and since nobody can predict what will happen you will be at the mercy of these exchanges because nobody knows so, therefore, one cannot depend on the contingencies they have (exchanges) in protecting your Bitcoin.

However, I am a firm believer in safety, a firm believer in security first, so I highly recommend that you start offloading all your bitcoins online to offline. I recommend you that you take them off these exchanges and store them in a paper wallet. There are other cold storage devices you can use but I recommend paper wallet.


If you are interested in protecting your Bitcoin and taking full advantage please join me on WhatsApp. Check my profile/signature for WhatsApp number and contact me where I will teach you for free step by step method on how to create and print out a paper wallet safely.
And also how to import your private keys (Bitcoin) back into these exchanges.
-Blockchain Evangelist.

Their biggest challenge is packaging

UPGRADE COMPLETED...Thank you for your patience

Dobxy:
Has anyone noticed that mmm-nigeria.net isn't going through at the moment, may be its my device, can anyone check and confirm this, if na true, money don enter ONE CHANCE be that ooooo!

So dumb thats the wrong site...
And also system upgrade was planned for 1hour today...
Na wao...
I pity my people..living a lie...

olaboy1:
God bless you OP for this write up, I wanted to write something like this a long time now on Nairaland as I have been very angry seeing all the useless posts from money doublers when someone genuinely ask how to invest his hard earned money.
I have been so angry to a point that I can't even remember the name of one I did way back in 2007/08, even the f&&King year I can't remember. I was working on the island not too far from the office of this money doubler and I invested 500k, when I started disturbing them so much for the promised dividend, they credited my First bank account, I was at the bank to cash out the little dividend only to realize I was debited same minute they credited me, it was a gimmick to make me believe that the shit was real.

I was at their office and met this aggrieved crowd of investors struggling to take off their AC, flat screen tv and stuffs. Seun needs to stop all these stupid adverts of referrals, betting, and all investment schemes that lack any bearing of what a business formation should look like.

I have been on this investment forum a long time looking for genuine business opportunities Nigerians in diaspora could invest in and create employments for others at home while we wait for Buhari to get his govt together, but I have been so disappointed. First time I read about MMM here, I shook my head and recognize that the scam investment is back again, and it's amazing how we reason, back in the days I did not ask vital questions about the scheme as it was my closest friend that sold the idea to me, but now you guys have the opportunity to read in details what this is all about and still want to invest in it.

It's better to invest your money in buying and selling of non perishable goods where you can recoup your principal if anything goes wrong, not some money spinning virtual online scheme where buyers and sellers don't exist.

The one I invested in back in the days, I said everything all of you optimists are saying on this thread about it, in fact I waited so long before I invested my money when testimonies started pouring in from people who were paid, but last last I fell for that bait and lost my money, I didn't even cash out one payment. So no need to argue about MMM for now, the scapegoats will soon create many threads in months to come.
Why would anyone advice people to take a blind risk, because the air we breathe is a risk also, what kind of thought process have you deployed.

You fail to understand what you are venturing into thats why you get scammed easily....MMM is so different...the model first of its kind in the modern world so comparing with some BS platforms...i smh for you

aminho:
Hey guys MMM is a joke i lost 500 thousand naira on it
I started quite well untill the reaped us up a friend of mine lost 5 million naira some 2 million naira in total we lost close to 18million
In the beginning when we started they were paying us promptly




mckoolcharming loveuGOD Joel3

It is a crime to humanity to lie and decieve your fellow man thereby denieing him the ability to make informed descision...

Why the wickedness...Jesus....pure and fake lies...

Well MMM is greater than you...

Bookiemart01:
You mean something that operates like this isn't scam?


"Let's say Mr A provide help of 20,000
Expecting his 30% (26k) in 30days, and he has sent the money to someone. By the time the 30days reaches, someone else MR B will send the money to MR A assuming he want to deposit or provide help of the 26k.
That 26k MR B provided for MR A, he will also get his 30% in 30days from another person MR C"


Mr C will now wait for Mr D and then the foolish cyclist goes on....but you think its not a scam?


Please some people can pay their children's school fees and pau Evey bill while engaging in reasonable business without Wait for the next Mr MMM helper to EPP them

Remember that Mr A and Mr B will pledge back....and there more to MMM..you see you dont understand its mode of operation...thats why it has over 500 thousand participants..chief 500 thousand participants cant be stupid all at once...stop and think!...there is something happening...stop assuming

Now you will say but i read some BS on wikipedia...i could as well say ''i am the greatest scientist in the world" on wikipedia will you take this as a fact...something is happening under your nose amd all you do is assume...shame on you

Compliant:
Pure scam

I just don't understand why someone will fall for something of such when most of us have being around to a long time to know all MMM to be scam

NO BE ONLY HELP NA HELPER

Its a shame you are not talking with facts...pure assumptions....

philipobiz:
O boy! You Don get heart attack? I can sense the sweat on your forehead. According to Godon "I dey joke o!" If you call this expensive you are on your own!

I rebuke the spirit of Esau in your life...you dont take life serious..you have forgotten that life is not a funfare but rather a warfare...you joke with everything..SMH...

I would advice you remodify..starting with your previous post...

philipobiz:
MMM have started giving selective help? Warning sign!!!

Its is evil to mislead people online...expecially when you dont understand what you are saying...

obi4eze:
We are saying it now but people will not listen.

One day monkey go go market and not return.

Before you say had I known...

Steer clear of MMM.

It's a SCAMMM

Do you love your neighbour this much....
its either you were paid (am very sure not too handsomely) to do this or your brain does not have the capacity to grab MMMs modus operandi...this is the only thing that makes sense in nigeria right now...you are so blind that you cannot see....
MMM members in nigeria are over 500 thousand...500 thousand people cannot be stupid at the same time...think! gadamnit...

Does SEC love nigerians....why this MMM...even during the so called sogun dogoji period..SEC never published a publication of advice...My question is this..why....everybody bought shares in the early 2000..it was like if you didnt buy shares then, you were th most unserious person on earth...what happened to those shares...

You need to stop and think....i am an advocate for the truth...and i believe that every human being on earth has that fundamental human right to correct and factual information so as to be able to make informed descisions...

And am telling you today that MMM is NOT a SCAM....thats a FACT!.....

dagr8:
Some people will still not hear word. Just pray you ain't the pig that will be slaughtered.

For those celebrating being paid now , nobody is denying that, and of course that is how Ponzi Scheme works, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
You can be lucky to be Paul, and if that is your case, good for you, but don't ever be greedy because programmes like this always have short life span.
In conclusion, na your money o, use am the way you feel like.Just play safe.

Do you love your neighbour this much..i dont think so...

whizqueen:
Thank God say I never start

I dont know how much most of you guys where paid...but its so unfortunate for you and your croonies because MMM is waxing stronger with more than 500k particoants in nigeria...shit on your pants...

Come to think of it over 500k and no single complain fro any member...

Do you love your neighbour that much or simply jealous he or she can pay his/her daughter school fees this september

OR is that he or she just paid for his/her parents medical bills...

Be careful what you do...expecially whe you do not understand what you dealing with...

Bookiemart01:
This is to some of us on mmm. Nigerian government will scrap it soon..


The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria (“SEC”) has been drawn to the activities of an online investment scheme tagged ‘MMM Federal Republic of Nigeria (nigeria.). The platform has embarked on an aggressive online media campaign to lure the investing public to participate in what it called “mutual aid financial network” with a monthly investment return of 30%

The Commission hereby notifies the investing public that the operation of this investment scheme has no tangible business model hence it’s a PONZI SCHEME where returns are paid from other people’s invested sum. Also, its operation is not registered by the Commission.

The general public is hereby advised to distance themselves from this online scheme. Please note that anyone that subscribe to this illegal activity does so at his/her own risk.

Cc lalasticlala mydd

Source
http://sec.gov.ng/the-attention-of-the-securities-and-exchange-commission-nigeria-sec-has-been-drawn-to-the-activities-of-an-online-investment-scheme-tagged-mmm-federal-republic-of-nigeria/

You are just seeking attention....your title is misleading and filled with lies...your aim is to get attention and take advantage by misleading the public...and i dont blame you because people without thinking now believes anything that comes out of the internet is true..

I believe in morals and i beleive each and every blogger or internet "posters" should inform the general public with correct information and with facts so as to enable them make informed descisions....

manuelrukky:
One potent reason MMM has grown this well is attributable to the sophisticated organisation employed to stabilise the inflow and outflows. It is important to recognise that the disintegration of any financial setup can be initiated quickly, by spreading wrong info about it.

Imagine the havoc that will happen should word get out today from cbn that first bank or any bank is distressed. Every customer of first bank will troop to first bank to request for all their cash, and the bank will go bankrupt because it will not be able to pay everybody.
Aware of the power of false info on the stability of any financial institution, The financial regulators, have begun a massive publicity against MMM.

MMM is not an investment as is said, even though some wealthy Nigerians have taken advantage of it as such because of the systems design made to give back 30% plus help amount back after 30days of helping some other member of the community.

MMM is designed primarily as a help community. And the regulation is for members to participate with their spare funds so that in the case of a shut down for example from government orders, it will cause only minor nervousness.
The SEC warning is for folks pouring all their life's work and earning into MMM simply because the 30% returns is almost inevitable.

Whilst the banks are enjoying the transfer of funds from participant to participant on MMM because of the generated #100 charged per transfer, it is important for MMM participants to adhere to the fundamental concept of MMM.

It's strictly for mutual help and should be partaken in with spare funds only.

Nice piece..very true...but i dont think any rich folk can take advantage because the maximum help you can pledge to provide in the community is 2million naira...

MMM!!!!!!!....Do people really care about their neighbours...Nigerians dont...thats why we have a generating set called ''i better pass my neighbour''....

A typical Nigerian dont like it when a neighbor is happy financially....they tend to question his source or means..and take up any slight rumor without verifying whether it is true or not...

Most people go to wikipedia for facts...well i can go to wikipedia and post ''i am the greatest scientist in the world'' and they will take it as a fact!

One of the ironies of the information age is how it’s turning out to obscure rather than improve our understanding of what’s really going on. The pressure to report quickly errs towards unverified reporting, or reporting based on facts distributed via unchecked sources or biased lobby groups intent on propagating causes, which in turn leads to an abundance of misinformation which confuses everyone.

freeman67:
Please do not start here again. A thread on this scheme was drawn to the front-page from business section this morning and there was an extensive discussion on it.
Personally I have gotten several text message inviting me to their website and I have also met people here on Nairaland who would have succeeded in drawing me into if not for the fact SEC posted that advise and I had the opportunity of reading it. I had in mind to research on it before putting my money but was too lazy to do it so I was just going to go with their sweet tongue.

what particularly caught my attention in the discussion on that thread is a link somebody posted that I decided to check out. Here is the thread.. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(Ponzi_scheme)

you can also google MMM to see the first thing it brings forward. Most businesses, organisations and corporations build on their track record. You can see that of MMM for yourself.

You realize that Wikipedia is not entitled to make such statements. Wikipedia is not an authority in criminal justice.
I can go to Wikipedia and write that I am the greatest scientist of this century, so would you take this as fact?

Horllamideh:
one Baptist church in my hometown nearly scatter back then around 2007/8 when the pastor withdrew half-a-million nairaland from church account to put into this MMM-like scheme called "Orion" then. The same pastor has been vocal speaking against the program but he did invest in the program and the thing packed up that same month. the wahala that thing cause for the church ehn......thank God the church survived sha.

I can pardon you because you are from a village...but how is MMM related to your pastors scheme..like pastor like congregation...

MMM members are saying there lives have been touched..more than 500k people...and you are saying Orion...Abolosi ni eleyi ni

Anybody with the correct MMM website..i will like to be part of MMM...

I realise we need true change...too many lives have been touched positively..i now understand the hate...Nigerians are wicked..they hate to see their neighbours smile....thats why a generating set can be called i better pass my neighbour

Guyman02:
Stop deceiving people who would come here to cry when the perpetrators of this robbing Peter to pay Paul scam flees with their money. Old Mugus can collect their profit from new mugus and run, while new mugus are advised not to join MMM Ponzi scheme

Have you ever stopped for a moment and think...ask yourself..why are people shouting MMM...be a wise judge...listen to both parties and reach a logical conclusion...

MMM cannot be a ponzi because in ponzis or pyramids, older members are nit expected to invest after their first investment
But in MMM everybody is required to provide help for he that needs help and also can request for help as at when due...

One of the ironies of the information age is how it’s turning out to obscure rather than improve our understanding of what’s really going on. The pressure to report quickly errs towards unverified reporting, or reporting based on facts distributed via unchecked sources or biased lobby groups intent on propagating causes, which in turn leads to an abundance of misinformation which confuses everyone.

AnonyNymous:
Here is the 'research' you asked for

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(Ponzi_scheme_company)

But wait o..how can you read wikipaedia and say you have done research....i dont understand...

switch47:
as for me, i invested into MMM got my profit after 3 months and i am only investing from the profit now so i can never lose money .... MMM pays

Although MMM pays..thats the wrong mind set bro

AnonyNymous:
Here is the 'research' you asked for

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(Ponzi_scheme_company)

Zombie ooo zombie (fela anikulapo's tone)

Nnaabros:
[size=15pt]Damn! The way proponents of this scheme are ready to defend it even with their lives is very surprising. They defend it so much that they are even ready to sacrifice their lives for it. See the fury, anger and frenzy with which they crush anything or anyone that speaks negatively about MMM. THE LURE OF EASY MONEY IS THE STRONGEST TRAP IN THE WORLD [/size]

That's the reason why you need to step back 5x5 and listen without bias to what this people are saying....and am sure you know that the media is full of lies...listen to parties...read about MMM...(i mean the true MMM story)...

Please reach me through my profile...and you will understand what the clamor is about...

Qtsnow:
Less than three months after the company collapsed in South Africa, MMM Global, a Russian Ponzi Scheme company has opened shop in Nigeria with the domain name-

MMM was established in 1989 by Sergei Mavrodi, 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.).

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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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). 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. 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”. The group was identified as a possible pyramid scheme by the National Consumer Commission and accounts of clients were later frozen by Capitec Bank. 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.

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

Many Nigerians who are not conversant with the fact that the company is a fraudulent establishment that defrauded more than 40 million people of at least USD10 billion before being shutdown and declaring bankruptcy in Russia.

mmm

As reported by Fin24, MMM Global in its usual manner operated a platform where 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.

However, it is a known knowledge that a scheme is a Ponzi scheme when expected return is 20% higher than the repo rate. To the amazement of any reasonable person, many South Africans still fall prey despite the fact that the repo rate in SA is 7%.

MMM Global only gave South Africans the bad news with a post on its website saying “We regret to inform you that we have to close down the Republic of Bitcoin. It was an experiment, and, unfortunately, it failed. We turned out not to be able to pay 100% per month.”

How can a company that has been defrauding people since 1989 claim its scheme is an experiment in 2016?

I met a former colleague who has fallen prey to the fraud. He was reveling in the phantom promise that his NGN100,000 will yield him additional 30% in return. I immediately alerted him that he has fallen for a Ponzi Scheme and that everything will soon blow up in his face.

To further delude their victims, MMM Global has been using propaganda and lies. My colleague narrated the origin of the company to me. Even a smart person will get carried away. The height of the idiocy was when he told me that MMM was closed down in Russia because the company became richer than the Russian government and all the banks put together.

A day before it collapsed in South Africa, BehindMLM, a website that reports news on Ponzi Schemes and Multi-level Marketing, MLM warned the public saying:

“The financial apocalypse is upon us, MMM Global has collapsed,”

“MMM Global’s Ponzi clones offering a lower percentage haven’t ‘proved’ themselves any more than MMM Global did,”

“MMM Global cannot sustain paying out more than is invested. And as long as affiliate investment is the only source of revenue entering the scheme, any MMM Global scheme will ultimately collapse.

“They’ll continue to pay ROIs (return on investments) until withdrawals exceed the rate of new investment, and then run out of money all the same. One only needs to look at the collapse of MMM China for evidence of what’s to come”.

“Unfortunately for most MMM Global investors, the collapse is the end of the line. Those unlucky enough to live in countries where MMM Global runs secondary scams (like South Africa), were informed their accounts would be transferred over.”

However, I am not surprised that Nigerians will fall prey to MMM Global. Ponzi Schemes are recurring decimals in the social history of Nigeria. From fraudulent investment clubs, to wealth solutions and other MLMs across the country.

In the midst of the banking boom, many Nigerian lost billions of Naira (NGN) to Ponzi Schemes who promised millions of the population superfluous interest rates close to 150% within 30 days.

A writer once accused many Nigerians of ‘momentary amnesia’, but in the midst of an economic crises, record inflation and ‘technical recession’, the lack of access to information by victims of such schemes seals their fate.

One of the ironies of the information age is how it’s turning out to obscure rather than improve our understanding of what’s really going on. The pressure to report quickly errs towards unverified reporting, or reporting based on facts distributed via unchecked sources or biased lobby groups intent on propagating causes, which in turn leads to an abundance of misinformation which confuses everyone.

Qtsnow:
Less than three months after the company collapsed in South Africa, MMM Global, a Russian Ponzi Scheme company has opened shop in Nigeria with the domain name-

MMM was established in 1989 by Sergei Mavrodi, 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.).

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.

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%.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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). 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. 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”. The group was identified as a possible pyramid scheme by the National Consumer Commission and accounts of clients were later frozen by Capitec Bank. 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.

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

Many Nigerians who are not conversant with the fact that the company is a fraudulent establishment that defrauded more than 40 million people of at least USD10 billion before being shutdown and declaring bankruptcy in Russia.

mmm

As reported by Fin24, MMM Global in its usual manner operated a platform where 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.

However, it is a known knowledge that a scheme is a Ponzi scheme when expected return is 20% higher than the repo rate. To the amazement of any reasonable person, many South Africans still fall prey despite the fact that the repo rate in SA is 7%.

MMM Global only gave South Africans the bad news with a post on its website saying “We regret to inform you that we have to close down the Republic of Bitcoin. It was an experiment, and, unfortunately, it failed. We turned out not to be able to pay 100% per month.”

How can a company that has been defrauding people since 1989 claim its scheme is an experiment in 2016?

I met a former colleague who has fallen prey to the fraud. He was reveling in the phantom promise that his NGN100,000 will yield him additional 30% in return. I immediately alerted him that he has fallen for a Ponzi Scheme and that everything will soon blow up in his face.

To further delude their victims, MMM Global has been using propaganda and lies. My colleague narrated the origin of the company to me. Even a smart person will get carried away. The height of the idiocy was when he told me that MMM was closed down in Russia because the company became richer than the Russian government and all the banks put together.

A day before it collapsed in South Africa, BehindMLM, a website that reports news on Ponzi Schemes and Multi-level Marketing, MLM warned the public saying:

“The financial apocalypse is upon us, MMM Global has collapsed,”

“MMM Global’s Ponzi clones offering a lower percentage haven’t ‘proved’ themselves any more than MMM Global did,”

“MMM Global cannot sustain paying out more than is invested. And as long as affiliate investment is the only source of revenue entering the scheme, any MMM Global scheme will ultimately collapse.

“They’ll continue to pay ROIs (return on investments) until withdrawals exceed the rate of new investment, and then run out of money all the same. One only needs to look at the collapse of MMM China for evidence of what’s to come”.

“Unfortunately for most MMM Global investors, the collapse is the end of the line. Those unlucky enough to live in countries where MMM Global runs secondary scams (like South Africa), were informed their accounts would be transferred over.”

However, I am not surprised that Nigerians will fall prey to MMM Global. Ponzi Schemes are recurring decimals in the social history of Nigeria. From fraudulent investment clubs, to wealth solutions and other MLMs across the country.

In the midst of the banking boom, many Nigerian lost billions of Naira (NGN) to Ponzi Schemes who promised millions of the population superfluous interest rates close to 150% within 30 days.

A writer once accused many Nigerians of ‘momentary amnesia’, but in the midst of an economic crises, record inflation and ‘technical recession’, the lack of access to information by victims of such schemes seals their fate.

One of the ironies of the information age is how it’s turning out to obscure rather than improve our understanding of what’s really going on. The pressure to report quickly errs towards unverified reporting, or reporting based on facts distributed via unchecked sources or biased lobby groups intent on propagating causes, which in turn leads to an abundance of misinformation which confuses everyone.

emma1983:
What ppple are trying to say is how do they make their own money.where does the bonus come from when you are not selling anything.What if the site just suddenly shuts down,do you knw how many nigerians will lose their money.My own believe is that if i want to invest my money,i invest it in people or company that i can see everyday just in-case i need my money back.Lets say i invest 250k in MMM then 2days or 1 week later the site shuts down,who i'm i going to meet to collect my money well i guess you know the answer.
Im not saying we should not invest to make more money but we have to be wise when we are doing it,the more pple begin to ask more question about MMM they might suddenly shut down and wait for another one year and come up with another name.Nigerians pls be careful with ur money its not easy.

Emma...haba....ooooo...you are falling my hand o...MMM does not accept money from anybody so i dont know your 250k will get missing.Its obvious you dont understand what MMM is all about...i took my time to read and understand what the community is all about..to me its the most truthful organization on earth right now....The easiest thing to do in todays world is to seat and generate negative comments on issues we have no understanding about...

ideaz:
Whenever businesses are presented to you and you are given a fixed ROI be patient enough to ask how that profit is made by the company or organization.

MMM in my own opinion is a 'rob Peter and Pay Paul' scheme which will manage to exist until there are no more enough Peters to rob and that will be the end!

You are Peter when your money is put into the system and Paul when you get your (money + the interest) back. Be warned that there must be more Peters for few Pauls all the time for the system to continue. The moment the recruitment exercise is saturated, meaning less Peters to match the Pauls, comes the end. The recruitment exercise must continue and expand aggressively into more and more territories to keep the scheme up and running.

An organization that offers no services but will pay you 50% or 100% ROI? It is a total gamble after all they already made it clear its not an investment and you are not guaranteed to make money but HELP.

I have done my research...and i realized that MMM is not a business neither is it an investment...so i dont understand why you using all these business analogies for it...also to me its truthful in its dealings...and its objective is not money but to make people see and understand more about the world we live in...I will advice you take an hour to go through their website without a bias mind..and reach a logical conclusion...