As many Nigerians awaits the return of popular money making machine or if you like, ponzi scheme MMM, in light of its recent closure, Sunday Adelaja, here writes extensively on why the scheme is dangerous.
Ponzi Schemes and Pyramids – What Are They?
The terms ‘Ponzi schemes’ and ‘pyramids’ were new in the former Soviet Union. Ponzi schemes and pyramids are a long known fraudulent way of getting money from rather ignorant people, whereby operators pay returns to participants from fresh money coming in from newly recruited members.
A legitimate business, on the other hand, must be involved in the production of goods or services, from which profit is made. A profit, therefore, is made legitimate through the exchange of goods or services produced. When it comes to Ponzi schemes and pyramids however, they do not produce goods or services, so there is no process of production whatsoever, therefore there is no legitimate means of making a profit. Ponzi schemes and pyramids like MMM base their operations on the greed of men to make quick money without paying the price of hard work.
They entice new members and participants purely on the basis of the desire of these participants to make quick money. Sergey Mavrodi himself is quoted as saying, MMM is a business built on exploiting people’s vice of greed and lust for money. Thanks to my ability to understand and speak Russian language fluently, I personally listened to Mr. Mavrodi saying this in an interview. According to him, his philosophy is, as long as greed and lust for money is part of human nature, MMM will live. He says that there is nothing anybody can do in any country to stop his business, because people still want to have quick and easy money. Even today, on the MMM website, he gives a clear warning to all the participants that they could lose their money and yet people still go ahead and get involved. In Mr. Mavrodi’s mind, he is not cheating or robbing anyone, because according to him, he is sincere enough to tell them exactly what he is doing. So he says, I tell people what I am doing, they know they are involved in criminal acts, they know they are involved in pyramids, they know they are involved in fraud, so what am I doing wrong then? People are intentionally getting involved in something they know is evil and could go catastrophic at any time.
15 Million Mavrodi Causalities
In Russia, by the time his company was shut down, he had succeeded in attracting about 15 million people who put in and eventually lost their money. MMM is a known pyramid and Ponzi scheme network all over the world. More so, the founder of the organisation, Sergey Mavrodi has been convicted for running a Ponzi scheme and has served a jail term of four years. As a matter of fact, he is right now in hiding and operating MMM Nigeria and others while on the run from his own country, Russia. Hence when you go to the page of MMM Nigeria, you will see where there is a warning that this MMM is not allowed in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, because the founder is wanted in these countries.
Why Every Nigerian Must Fight Against Get Rich Quick Schemes
“We who have means and a voice must use them to help those who have neither.” รข€• Jennifer Donnelly
There are some points that we need to underline, specifically for the Nigerian public, that could help answer a lot of unanswered questions.
1. Sergey Mavrodi, being a mathematical genius and winner of several mathematical Olympiads while still a student in school, uses his knowledge and his superior intellect to manipulate the rather gullible populace;
2. Thanks to his intellectual prowess, it is not difficult for him to realise the power of mass media on the people. Sergey Mavrodi’s strength is in pouring a large percentage of the money he gets from people into advertisement and publicity;
3. The greatest attraction to MMM is the thirty percent promised returns on a monthly basis. This is the standard Ponzi and pyramid percentage in almost every such scheme throughout history. To my Nigerian brethren, I want to ask: What have you done for you to warrant a reward or profit of thirty percent a month, which could be up to three hundred and sixty percent in a year? Have you asked yourself where the money is coming from? Is it coming from heaven or dropping from the trees? Of course you know the answer – the money is not coming from production or sales, it is coming from your down line, the new people like you who are bringing in money;
4. If you are being paid from the money other people are bringing in, to a thinking mind that is enough reason for you to know that the whole project will collapse sooner than later. This is because whenever the input becomes less than the output, that means more people are collecting their thirty percent from the company than those who are bringing in money, and that marks the end of the system;
5. Right now, the operators of MMM in Nigeria and all over the world are busy pushing their guiders, managers and participants to keep on recruiting new members who would bring in fresh money. That which first appears to them as success also carries in itself the seed of its demise. This is because the more people bring in money, the larger the amount of money that is asked for as thirty percent returns. Sooner or later, you will have more people taking away from the system than are bringing into it, marking the end of the whole scheme;
6. Why is this bad as far as some people have made some money from the system? Let’s say the first one million people brought money in, for them to continuously be paid thirty percent, they need to bring in at least another three million people. So if the system collapses, even though one million people have been paid, three million people will be left hanging, looking for where to be paid from. The bigger such a pyramid grows, the more catastrophic it becomes eventually. When three million people lose their money, that equals more sorrow and pain, than if it is one million people who lost their money.
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Written by Sunday Adelaja, a Nigeria born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He is based in Kiev, Ukraine. He can be contacted at sundayadelajablog@gmail.com.
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