The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, has said that an ‎estimated three million Nigerians lost N18 billion in the MavrodiMundial Movement, MMM, ponzi scheme.

While speaking at the NDIC day at the ongoing 38th KadunaInternational Trade Fair on Thursday,the Managing Director of thecorporation, Umaru Ibrahim, decried the development.

Over three million Nigerians were participating in MMM before December 2016 when organisers suspended payment to investors due to its system “experiencing heavy workload.”

By the time the scheme returned in January, few new investors joined and the millions waiting for their payments were left disappointed with majority never paid.

Mr. Ibrahim noted that despite repeated warnings by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and other agencies like the anti-graft EFCC, Nigerians still patronised theponzi scheme.

Mr. Ibrahim, who was represented by NDIC’s Deputy Director CorporateAffairs, Hadi Suleiman, noted that any financial deal done through any ponzi scheme in form of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin,Ripples, Litecoin, and Onecoin as currencies for medium of exchange, is an Internet-based transaction‎ not authorised by the CBN becauseof the risks involved in its operations.

The NDIC boss cautioned that any person or groups of persons who invest their money in the Phonzi scheme do so at their own risk,adding that such schemes often defraud people of their money.

“The ponzi scheme is the phenomenon of illegal fundmanagers,popularly called “WonderBanks” which have continued to defraud unsuspecting members of thepublic of their hard earned money,” he said.”This phenomenon has been a source for concern because despite our repeated warnings over the years, some members of the public havecontinued to fall victims of their fraudulent practices.”We would 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 patronise them covered by the NDIC deposit insurance scheme,” he said.