Ebun Francis || About Three million Nigerians invested N18 billion in the Mavrodi Mondial Movement (MMM) Ponzi scheme, according to figures released by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation in Kaduna on Thursday.
The Managing Director of the corporation, Umaru Ibrahim made the disclosure at the ongoing 38th Kaduna International Trade Fair.
According to him, “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 licensed by the CBN to take deposits from members of the public, nor 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.
Ibrahim informed his audience that NDIC had established a 24 hour help desk, a toll free telephone line: 080063424357 to make complaints.
“Depositors and stakeholders are therefore, advised to make effective use of the free telephone line in making their enquiries or laying genuine complaints to NDIC on sharp practices being perpetrated by their banks” he concluded.