A dog that will get lost will never hear the whistle of the hunter according to a Nigerian proverb. This applies to the over 3m Nigerians that lost N18 billion in the Mavrodi Mundial Movement (MMM) Ponzi scheme according to Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).
The managing director of the NDIC, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim disclosed this yesterday, while speaking during the corporation’s day at the ongoing 38th Kaduna International Trade Fair organized by the Kaduna Chambers of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA).
Represented by the deputy director Communication and public Affairs, Alhaji Hadi Birchi Suleiman, the managing director lamented that despite repeated warnings by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the corporation, Nigerians still patronize MMM.
The MD emphasized that frequent usage of virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, Ripples, Monero, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Onecoin as currencies for medium of exchange are Internet-based transactions and are not authorized by the CBN due to the risks involved in their operations.
He cautioned that any persons or group of persons investing their hard earned money in the Ponzi scheme were doing so at their own risk.
He said, “The Ponzi scheme is the phenomenon of illegal fund managers, popularly called Wonder Bank’ which has 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 will like to reiterate the fact that these fund managers are illegal as they are neither licenced by the CBN to take deposits from members of the public nor are those who patronize 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 recognized to mobilize savings from their members”.
Advising the general public on the dangers of keeping large sums of money at home or in market shops, he said there are 978 licences microfinance Banks nationwide, out if which seven are spread across Kaduna State and should be patronized for safe keeping of their monies.
He noted that, with the advent of the cashless policy and the subsequent licensing of mobile money operators (MMOs) by the CBN, the corporation had extended deposit insurance cover to the subscribers of MMOs to the maximum limit of N500,000 per subscriber per bank through its Pass-Through Deposit Insurance Framework.
“Avoid mouthwatering interest rate being used to lure you into becoming a victim thereby loosing your hard earn monies. Don’t be deceived”, he warns
