For Nigerian investors in the Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox (MMM) scheme, the past two weeks has been more harrowing than the recession of the Nigerian economy following the one-month suspension of payment to members announced by the ponzi scheme on Tuesday, December 13.
Indeed, not even the promise of resuming payments from January 12, 2017 has been able to erase or subdue the panic and sweating foreheads of those whose funds are trapped in the scheme.
In a letter to the investors, operators of the scheme attributed the payment suspension to “heavy workload on system” as well as negative media reports about the scheme in Nigeria.
For older Nigerians, the payment suspension by MMM could well signal the end of the scheme given the sad experience of the past such as the celebrated Umana Umana case in Port Harcourt then, as well as similar ones after it.
For now, the subscribers are clinging on the unseen promise of retrieving their trapped funds from January 12; a promise without any margin of guarantee given that MMM does not have a defined physical operating office anywhere in Nigeria.
The ghostly operation of MMM was one of the main reasons why the Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Assembly repeatedly warned Nigerians against investing or subscribing to the scheme.
But with the recession hitting the citizenry very hard, the promise of 30% return in 30 days by the scheme was too difficult a temptation for many to resist.
Which bank in Nigeria can guarantee 30% return in 30 days? None!
As nervous subscribers of MMM wait for January 12 with bated breath to know their fate, many observers are asking the question: Is this the end of MMM? Or bigger beginning!
