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How to Recognise a Pyramid Scheme from Afar

Whether it’s weird forex academies or people who ask you to invest in hopes of getting double your capital, there’s one common thing about pyramid schemes: your money will suffer for it. This guide is to help you notice them from afar and hold on tight to your pocket.

They want to teach you how to make money

Think about it. Why would anyone want to do that?

But they want you to bring your own money first

It should be obvious at this point that these people are up to no good.

They want you to bring your friends and their money too

They’ll ask you to bring three people who’ll bring three people who’ll then bring three people. It can only be one of two things: witchcraft or a pyramid scheme. Run!

They use a lot of motivational quotes

They’ll bombard you with all these nice-sounding buzzwords like “abundance mindset” and “not limiting yourself”. This is just to get you dizzy on motivation till you drop your house rent.

The returns look fishy

If “30% interest after 4 weeks” doesn’t make you wonder if there’s some yoruba movie shenanigans going on, then you should at least be worried.

RELATED: 4 Nigerians on the Bad Spending Experiences They’ve Had

There’s always one person at the top

There’s always someone who seems to have done everything right and now makes a lot of money from the scheme. This is to keep the dream alive in your mind.

Your friends join and try to sell you on it

This is most likely how you’ll find out about it in the first place. Just remember, if you do it, you’re their lunch money.

The business is looking somehow

If you can’t figure out what they actually do to make money, in a way that’s as simple as selling biscuit for ₦10, it’s probably a pyramid scheme.

You’re wondering if it’s a business or a cult

They do usually give off cult vibes. Because why else would they ask you to recruit your family members?

ALSO READ: 6 Nigerians Share Their Experiences With Pyramid Schemes

Sheriff Alimi

July 25, 2022

Money

mmm, money, Money Problems, ponzi scheme
6 Different Ways You Can Be Scammed In Nigeria

You will most likely be scammed in Nigeria more times than you will visit your dentist. There’s a scam waiting for you at every turn or swipe you make on the internet, from Twitter to Instagram, and some even wait for you in right in your text messages.

Here’s a list of 6 of the most common ways you can be scammed in Nigeria.

1. The “investments”.

These investments always offer extremely high returns. The kind of returns that should actually only be possible with blood money. How else does 500k suddenly birth 1.5 million in days? With no proof of backing from any legitimate business, just tales of “clients” and a weird craft name.

2. Ponzi schemes (a.k.a MMM, LOOM).

Throwback to MMM and then stop at LOOM on your way back. One would think MMM should have been enough lesson that pyramid schemes a scam, but LOOM came and proved that they carried the course over.

3. Flip cash.

The ways this works is someone casually wanders into your DM to ask how you are doing and to let you know that they can turn your 10k to 100k. Just like that. They have flip money abilities but they don’t use it to flip all their cash O.

4. Text messages impersonating your bank.

Random but not random messages from your “bank” asking for your BVN or other details because there’s a sudden problem with your account. And of course, there’s always bad English sprinkled all over which should be a red flag.

5. Social media men claiming to be women.

As seen in the tweet.

6. Prize.

Random messages telling you that you’ve won a prize you didn’t even know you were competing for. And then there’s a website you have to visit and a fee you have to pay.

Have you been scammed in any of the ways mentioned here? Tell us in the comments.

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Blessing Onyelobi

May 11, 2020

Inside Life

binomo investement, flipcash, mmm, Scams
WTF Is Loom And Why Are People Falling For It?

On Saturday, while everyone else was eating the spoils of Owambe party rice, I was carrying out my preferred weekend activity – frying out whatever brain cells survived the week’s grind on Nigerian social media.

A few annoying GOT spoilers and some unsolicited Endgame reviews after, I came across an interesting tweet.

In quick succession, three more tweets trickled in with the word ‘Loom’ present. It appeared someone had unleashed the SEO floodgates ‘pon my timeline. So, being the eternal busybody that I am, I decided to go in search of whatever this ‘loom’ phenomenon was, and wow Nigerians, just wow. I hail.

In case you have no idea what Loom is, I’ll explain using the questions that plagued my mind as I carried out my research on what is a thinly veiled MMM plus.

What is Loom?

First off, when the name of a scheme literally translates to ‘something vague and threatening’, you already know not a lot of good can come out of it.

The premise of Loom lies in a peer-to-peer pyramid scheme that sees an individual putting in a sum of money and earning eight times the amount he put. Nothing unrealistic or too-good-to-be-true sounding about that. No Sir.

So if you invest 1000, you’re ideally entitled to a pay out of 13 000, 104 000 if the amount invested is 13 000, these amounts being the stipulated amounts to be a part of the Loom . Sound simple enough correct? Well, this leads to the next question I had

How does it work?

Because we are currently in the millenial age with our kitschy gadgets our social media, the loom scheme can be carried wherever you go, via WhatsApp.

To begin, a group is set up by an individual, he becomes the center. The more people recruited, the closer he is to getting his payout. Once this group reaches the 8 mark, he collects his pay and leaves the group, but not without first re-investing a portion of his earnings into the group.

The remainder of the group is then divided into 2, with 4 members each. They are encouraged to invite more people in to hasten their chances of reaching the sacred 8 mark, where the next center cashes out. Rinse and repeat.

What do the colours mean?

For some reason, weird colours were thrown into the mix.

The colours Purple, blue, orange and red represent the levels in the Loom, with Red representing the center. The others represent how close an individual is to get to the center.

But you know what else has those colours? This guy.

Which is what you’re going to be, should you choose to participate in this scheme.

Is it Safe?

Well, it’s safe in the way babies playing with a naked flame is safe. Like picking your teeth with a discarded needle is perfectly harmless or jumping off of a moving okada is good fun. If you missed it, it’s not safe.

Yes, there’s a high chance you cash out should you join the group in its early stages, but for this scheme to be plausible, an endless flow of people are required and it is simply unsustainable. Someone always loses in the end. Don’t let that be you

Should I put my money in?

No, absolutely not. Not only is it too good to be true, but it’s also illegal, seeing as it is a financial organisation without the required regulatory approvals. Please, I take God beg you, don’t disgrace us outside.

Boyin Plumptre

May 8, 2019

General

fraud, Loom, mmm, Scam
7 Insane Facts About Sergei Mavrodi’s Life (MMM Guy)

If you had no idea who he was when his insanely popular Ponzi scheme took the country by storm, then you definitely heard about him when news of his death spread and Nigerians fist pumped in unison and celebrated.

His name was Sergei Mavrodi, Russia’s Jeffrey Dahmer look-alike and founder of MMM, the Ponzi scheme that defrauded millions of people around the world.

Now, this isn’t me making him out to be some kind of legend or anything, but I recently found out some details about his life that legit made me scream. (My curiosity not only killed the cat, but it also buried it too.)

Details like:

1. You see this MMM thing? No be when e come Nigeria e start.

This nigga actually started this thing in 1989 with his brother, Vyacheslav Mavrodi, and some woman named Olga Melnikova. It initially started as a network of computer-importing cooperatives but underwent several transformations (after tax police accused the business of tax evasion in 1992) to become a Ponzi scheme in 1994.

2. He was arrested for tax evasion in 1994 and, while still being investigated, ran for office in his country (Russia) AND WON.

3 weeks after being released from police custody, this guy saw an opportunity and went for it. You see, a politician in the Federal Assembly of Russia had just been killed and an election was scheduled to replace him. Mavrodi somehow ran in this election and won, automatically gaining immunity from the crime he was was being investigated for at the time.

That wasn’t the end of his problems though. During his tenure, Mavrodi showed up in the Federal Assembly just once, to vote against an attempt to strip him of immunity. He was eventually stripped of his immunity in 1995, which led to him trying to run for PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA in 1996. However, his bid was denied after officials discovered that most of the signatures he submitted were forged.

This guy!

3. After his plot to run for the presidency was foiled, he declared MMM bankrupt and vanished in 1997.

With a shit ton of people’s money. He wouldn’t be found for another six years.

4. He was found and arrested in Moscow in 2003 (which was weird because authorities believed he fled to Greece years prior) and was given until February 2006 to read the documents in the fraud case against him.

If you’re wondering why he was given three years to read a bunch of documents, it’s because these documents had 650 volumes, and each volume was 270 pages long. He got lucky though because, by April 2007, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. And since he had already been in police custody for 4 years, he only spent less than a month in prison before he was released.

This guy!

5. A book he wrote about MMM and how the Russian government shut it down was eventually turned into a movie named The PyraMMMid. It was released in 2011.

Eldar Salavatov, the filmmaker who took on the project, made the story into a Robin Hood-style narrative about a con man who turns a new leaf by deciding to fight a corrupt financial system. Frankly, I think it sounds insane which is why I absolutely have to watch it.

6. In 2011, he launched the version of MMM we encountered lazily named MMM-2011.

He launched it first in Russia and boldly stated that it was, in fact, a Ponzi scheme (there’s no law against them in Russia) he hoped would destroy the financial system, which he considered unfair. He then proceeded to launch it in India, China, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Nigeria, all of which ended the same way.

Alexa, play Madonna’s “Frozen.”

7. After dying of heart problems in March 2018, MMM 2011 investors funded his funeral.

We’re also going to assume that these heart problems were caused by millions of curses from the victims of his Ponzi schemes. God knows he deserved it.

Astor George

May 2, 2019

Inside Life

fraud, mmm, ponzi scheme, Sergei Mavrodi
Zimbabweans Are In Trouble, And This Time It’s Not Mugabe’s Fault

As if having President Mugabe leading them into a recession is not enough, Zimbabweans are facing another, probably bigger, financial problem.
Thousands of Zimbabweans have lost their investments after the online money scheme, MMM Zimbabwe Global, terminated its services without prior notice to investors.

Apparently, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe had earlier warned citizens that MMM was a scam, but Zimbabweans didn’t listen because initial investors had made profit from the scheme.

It’s not surprising Zimbabweans were desperate to join the social financial network; the country’s economy is fast grinding to a halt.

The Zimbabwean Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, and ZANU PF, the leading party, have been widely criticized for their inability to map out strategic economic reform ideas to improve the situation.

And of course, there’s this teeny tiny problem as well.

Ponzi schemes like the MMM only work when new members invest money, which is used to pay off older investors until a point where the schemes don’t attract new investors and crash.

The MMM Nigeria scheme is gaining traction and we heard someone even advised presido to put our money there.

Pls can FG @MBuhari join MMM #Nigeria Atleast render 1billion Naira help to citizens,it with help end recession 😂😂 @ebuka_akara @NGRWailers
— ojiugo 🇳🇬 🇴🇲 (@adaikechi35) September 23, 2016

Please, we don’t want.

The MMM scheme is known globally as a Russian scam network and the CBN has warned Nigerians against joining it.

Shola

September 27, 2016

Gist

mmm, Mugabe, ponzi scheme, Scam, Zimbabwe