Subscribers
and investors of Nigeria's most notorious Ponzi scheme, MMM, have
resigned to fate as they await their trapped investments a day after the
scheme resumed operations.
MMM
The euphoria which greeted the news of the unfreezing of Mavrodi
Mondial Moneybox, a ponzi scheme popularly known as MMM, may have
subsided as a result of the dearth of people willing to provide
financial help.
Subscribers to the scheme had gone into wild jubilations as news of
the unfreezing of the scheme filtered through, 24 hours earlier than
the Saturday 14, 2017, return date announced earlier.
Over three million Nigerians who subscribed to the scheme were
thrown into panic and confusion a month ago when the operators of the
scheme announced temporary freezing of the scheme, citing heavy workload
on the platform and attacks from the media as the reason for the
freezing.
The message, which assured subscribers of its return on January 14,
2017, promised to pay every subscriber as soon as the suspension on the
scheme is lifted.
But while announcing its return last Friday, operators of the
scheme had announced that the scheme would attend to small investors
first, while subscribers with bigger financial commitments would have to
wait a bit longer.
A message on the official portal of the scheme read: “Please,
be prepared to wait for a couple of days. We are certain things will
then calm down, and the system operation will return to normal.
“We’re the ones setting limits, so it’s completely under our
control, and we are not expecting any emergencies in principle. Have no
fear and go on about your business as usual.
“As the system is socially oriented, we will make paybacks to
the poor and the economically disadvantaged in the first place; it means
to the members with small PH (Provide Help) amounts. The richer can
wait. Moreover, we’ve warned you repeatedly to only provide help with
amounts that are not critical for you.”
Findings by Sunday Sun showed that many intending help providers on
the scheme may have developed cold feet in pumping money into the
scheme, as the list of people seeking to be helped has continued to
grow.
A subscriber, who simply gave her name as Mrs. Olanrewaju, told
Sunday Sun that she was still taking her time studying development on
the scheme before deciding on whether to provide help or not.
Olanrewaju, who described herself as one of the lucky beneficiaries of the scheme, said:
“I had provided help on a number of occasions and got rewarded
accordingly. In fact, the scheme was suspended last year shortly after I
got rewarded for the last help I rendered. But one needs to be cautious
in a situation like this because one cannot really be too sure. I am
still watching to see if I will still continue,” she said.
It was also gathered that many subscribers who had indicated
interest in getting help were yet to be matched with prospective help
providers more than 24 hours after seeking to be helped.
This development, according to a participant, Patrick Usenu, may
not be unconnected with the fact that many potential help providers
might be reluctant to put their money into the scheme because of
uncertainties.
“In spite of the assurances given that the scheme will not
crash, people still feel they must exercise restraint in order not to
lose their monies. Unlike what was obtainable before now, people are
only eager to seek help and not to provide help. I have spoken with some
people who are into it and what they told me is that they have only
sought help; none of them has told me that he or she would provide help.
And I want to believe that explains the reasons most GHs are yet to be
matched,” he said.
However, another participant, who simply gave his name as Seun,
said getting matched with a help provider was not immediate. According
to him, “it may take up to 48 hours before a GH gets matched with a
PH. At the beginning, the duration of getting matched was very short. In
fact, it was less than a day ,but as the platform continued to attract
huge traffic, they continue to delay in getting people matched.
“It is wrong to attribute the delay being experienced to the
claim that people are not willing to offer help. I know two people who
have offered to provide help but who are yet to be matched with those
who need help,” he said.
-Daily Sun
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