While delivering a speech at the 38th Kaduna International Trade Fair on Thursday, the Managing Director of Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Umaru Ibrahim said that about 3 million Nigerians lost N18bn to money-doubling scheme Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox (MMM).
Ibrahim who was represented by the Deputy Director Corporate Affairs, Hadi Suleiman lamented that Nigerians still patronise the scheme even after repeated warnings by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the corporation.
He stressed that the creation, usage, and usage of Ponzi schemes and all forms of virtual currencies – Bitcoin, Ripples, Monero, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Onecoin – as currencies or media of exchange are Internet-based transactions and are not authorised by the CBN due to the risks involved in their operations.
He cautioned that any person or groups of persons who invest their money in the Ponzi scheme does so at their own risk.
“The Ponzi scheme is the phenomenon of illegal fund managers, popularly called ‘Wonder Banks’ which have continued to defraud unsuspecting members of the public of their hard earned money. This phenomenon has been a source for concern because despite our repeated warnings over the years, some members of the public have continued to fall victims of their fraudulent practices.
We would like to reiterate the fact that these fund managers are illegal as they are neither licences by the CBN to take deposits from members of the public not are those who patronise them covered by the NDIC deposit insurance scheme.
I want to also draw the attention of some cooperative society which often go beyond their primary mandate by accepting contributions from members as cooperative societies are only recognised to mobilise savings from their members,” he said.
Source
Dailytrust
