Reps warn Nigerians against scams, to probe MMM

The House of Representatives on Wednesday warned Nigerians to desist from investing in the online money scheme, Mavrodi Mondial Money box (MMM) operating in Nigeria.

Recall that Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) had warned against participation in the scheme.

The lawmakers who declared the scheme financial scam, stressed that there is high probability that the entire operations of the scheme could crash without prior warning.

To this end, the House mandated the joint committees on Financial Crimes and Banking and Currency to investigate the scheme and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara who presided over plenary, stated that Nigerians ought to have learned from losses recorded by victims of ‘Wonder banks’ and failed ‘Ponzi schemes’.

In his lead debate, Saheed Akinade-Fijabi, sponsor of the motion, described the MMM scheme as ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’, expressed concern over the large number of people involved a scheme which is unregistered in Nigeria despite its risky format of an individual making money available to anonymous person with the promise of a 30 percent return on investment within 30 days.

According to him, “every Nigerian who is participating in the MMM scheme, which is not regulated by any law, is vulnerable to losing his/her investment as there is no identifiable platform to guarantee the security of such, given the declaration by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that the scheme is fraudulent and also recalls that many Nigerians had been victims of similar schemes in the pass, such scene as West Solution, Pennywise and Wealth Creation, all in the name of making quick money.”

Akinade-Fijabi urged Nigeria should emulate China by outlawing the online scheme which he said was developed by three Russians, Sergei Mavrodi, Vyachelsav Mavrodi and Olga Melnikova as it will lead to the financial ruin of those involved in it.

“The antecedents of the founders cannot guarantee security of investments in the scheme in the long run as reports indicate that similar schemes by the same founders has been launched in RUSSIA where investors lost their monies running into millions of dollars,” he said.

Speaking in support of the motion, Minority Leader, Leo Ogor pleaded with Nigerians to exit from the scheme, saying, “let it be known to our people that this scheme is fraudulent.”

Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyema who likened MMM to wonder banks blamed the willingness of any Nigerians to participate in the scheme on the state of the economy.

Source: Business Day