When MMM Nigeria Will Crash -By Akogwu Egene, Esq.

Like an Eagle amongst Birds, ‘Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox’ best known with its acronym, MMM, is flying higher amongst ‘quick money’ making schemes in Nigeria, such as Helping Hands International, icharity Club, Zarfund, amongst many others. This ‘Giant Achievement’ of MMM is as a result of the mind blowing promises it makes to investors and the many testimonies of investors who have reaped the fruits of their investment in the scheme. All these ‘money bag’ schemes supposedly make their investors rich via networking or more appropriately, by handing over new investors’ money to current investors with the promise to pay the new investors within a specified time with the money of hopeful future new investors.

MMM Global was founded in Russia in 1989 by two brothers, Sergei and Vyacheslav Mavrodi and Olga Melnikova. The scheme closed down in Russia within a few years after luring investors and catering away their money. Sergei Mavrodi was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for defrauding over 10 thousand Russian investors. The operators of MMM have defrauded people in United States of America, China, South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe and it has been bound in South Africa and China.

MMM Nigeria and its Operation:
MMM Nigeria was launched in 2016, and within a few months, the system has gathered over a million investors. This flocking to MMM by Nigerians is as a result of the ‘get rich quick’ mentality of Nigerians, their gullible dispositions and the great hardship being experienced Nation-wide as a result of the economic recession. MMM Nigeria promises and in deed, delivers invested capital plus 30% interest and other monetary incentives after a month.
Thus, at your first registration, if you give help/invest between N18, 000 to N159, 000, you will be given 20$ (N6, 000) bonus plus a 30% interest and your capital after 30 days. Also, when you provide help/invest between N160, 000 to N199, 000, you will get 50$ (N19, 500) bonus plus your 30% interest and capital investment after 30 days. And when you invest between N1, 200, 000 and N2, 900, 000, you will have 100$ (N39, 000) bonus plus 30% interest and your capital investment after a month. You will also be paid 10% referral bonus on any amount of money invested by any person you referred to the system who registered under you. Other attractive benefits may also follow.

No doubt, more than a million Nigerians from all walks of life from all over the Federation have benefited from transacting with MMM. Because the system is online base and it’s easy to operate, it is spreading like wild-fire through out the Federation. Many Nigerians now rather put their money in the ‘Mavro Mondial Moneybox’ than save it in Banks or grant loans to business organizations. This of course is justifiable on the basis of the benefits that accrue to them from MMM at the end of the Month.

The Risk Inherent in MMM Nigeria:
It appears investors of MMM in Nigeria are unaware of the “Great Risk” inherent in such investment or at least they believe that the potential benefit in the investment is worth the risk. The fact must be stated, MMM Nigeria will surely crash because such system is not sustainable. In 2007, Pennywise and Wealth Solution came up in Ibadan, Oyo State, and promised investors over 50% return on investment. As usual, only few Nigerians embraced the scheme from the onset and these few investors actually got the mouth watering return on investment. The testimonies of the beneficiaries lured many into the system in expectation of ‘quick money’ only for the system to crumble after 6 Months and billions of naira belonging to investors was lost forever. Many people of course committed suicide as a result of the unbearable lost. Similarly, between 2010 to 2011, Miriam Moses Ventures arose in Kaduna State and delivered 100% return on investment (money doubling) after a Month, and many made their millions and even acquired property from the proceed. Only for millions of people to flood the system and invested huge sums of money expecting to become millionaires over night and the system closed down abruptly with billions of naira from investors gone forever and there was ‘Loud Wailing’ all over Kaduna State. Also, it was reported recently by Emeka Mamah that on the 6th of September, 2016, the EFCC arrested an operator of a wonder bank, Chief Patrick Shanchi Nwokike, for defrauding investors of over 4 billion naira within 5 years in Enugu.

Nigerians have the habit of defending the continuing existence of MMM by saying that its operators cannot run away with investors’ money since MMM does not have a uniform account where investors’ monies are lodged. True to this statement, investors in MMM pay themselves by giving voluntary monetary help to members who have earlier granted help in expectation of getting same after a Month with 30% interest plus other incentives. However, I make bold to say that MMM Nigeria will soon end its operation and the doom day will be soonest and will take investors by surprise.

How MMM Nigeria will Crash:
Firstly, MMM Nigeria can stop its operation today by the act of its operators when their set target of investors is met. Like Miriam Moses Ventures, now that MMM Nigeria is booming, the operators can happily closed down the system taking away investors’ money by distributing their personal/agent’s account numbers to all the potential investors who are ready to give help. Once such monies have being paid, they will simply close down the system and there will be no one to hold accountable since the operators of MMM are ghosts. And when this happens, Billions of Naira belonging to investors will be freely catered away.
Secondly, MMM Nigeria will automatically crash when there is a decline or drastic reduction in the number of investors. MMM rests its operation on the investment of investors by asking new members to pay current members. Thus, when the number of new members dwindles, existing members will remain unpaid as it happened in the case of Pennywise and Wealth Solution. When this occurs, the system will automatically crash and the existing members’ money will be lost forever and there will be no one to hold responsible.

Thirdly, MMM Nigeria will crash when the threat of the government is carried out. The government of Nigeria after realizing that Nigerians have refused to take its advice and stop investing in MMM, has resolved to go after the operators of the system. When the operators of MMM will be arrested, the system will become abandoned and investors money will be lost.

Fourthly, when the system is closed down or shut down by EFCC, NCC or other bodies the same way it has being done by the police in Moscow, Russia, in July, 1994. When the platform is finally destroyed or shut down by any of these bodies who are most likely to do so soon, investors money will be gone without a trace.

Either way MMM crashes, it will seriously break the hearts of many Nigerians and billions if not trillions of naira of investors will be lost forever with nobody to hold accountable because MMM operators are not known and they do not have traceable address. When MMM Nigeria crashes, it will be the biggest hit by any ‘Ponzi Scheme’ or ‘Wonder Bank’ as it already has more than a million Nigerians patronizing it. Then, there shall be ‘National Wailing’ since the hearts of many Nigerians shall be greatly shattered as their cumulative billions or trillions of naira will be catered away without trace forever. And many may not be able to survive the irreplaceable lost of their money in this hard time of economic recession.
The only Way Out of this Imminent Danger:

In conclusion, the Federal Government, the National Assembly, the Central Bank of Nigeria and well-meaning individuals, groups and organizations have pleaded and cautioned Nigerians to stop investing in MMM as they stand a high risk of loosing their money. NDIC and SEC have both confirmed that MMM Nigeria is an illegal and a fraudulent scheme because it is not registered with any of the regulatory institutions, does not have business dealing and a traceable address. On this basis, on my part, I offer unsolicited pro bono advise to the general public that Nigerians should stop investing their money in MMM to avoid being defrauded the same way MMM operators defrauded their investors in Russia, the United States, China and Zimbabwe, to mention but a few Countries. Miriam Moses Ventures, pennywise and Wealth Solution and many other ‘quick money schemes’ also ran away with Nigerians’ money few years back.

Akogwu Egene, Esq. is a young Legal Practitioner from Kogi State based in Ibadan, Oyo State; email: akogwuegene@gmail.com