MMM Nigeria is a descendant of popular Russian company, MMM, that perpetrated one of the world’s largest Ponzi schemes of all time.

MMM began operating in the 1990s, and is therefore not new in Russia and several other countries where it operated. However, many Nigerians only got to know of it in 2016 when it gained unprecedented popularity.

Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi, along with his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi and Olga Melnikova founded MMM. And the infamous company also got its name (Mavrodi Mundial Movement) using their surnames for the first acronym.

According to several sources, around 5 to 10 million people lost their savings to the scheme.

Many of the victims were as a matter of fact not ignorant of the fraudulent nature of the scheme. Nevertheless, they chose to invest and profit from it by withdrawing money before it collapsed.

MMM was shut down by Russian police in 1994, and the company subsequently declared bankruptcy in 1997.

History of MMM Nigeria: How it came to being!

Mavrodi launched MMM Global with subsidiaries in 110 countries around the world; he did that in a bid to expand internationally.

In November 2015, MMM launched a website targeting the Nigerian audience. The website promised a return of 30% per month, along with several other acquirable bonuses from referral and first time sign up.

By late 2016, an estimated 2.4 million people had signed up, and were benefiting from the scheme. Majority of the participants were unemployed Nigerians hoping to make a living from a supposed lucrative opportunity.

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confirmed that it was monitoring the scheme. Meanwhile, it discouraged Nigerians from investing in it, since it wasn’t a viable business model.

On 13 December, 2016 MMM Nigeria announced the freezing of all members’ accounts blaming it on “systems overload and the negative attention brought on by the Government and mass media”.

The scheme reopened in January 2017 — after the festive seasons — but was forced to shut down indefinitely in March.

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But is it back in Nigeria?

After the death of Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi on 26 March 2018, partners of MMM decided to shutdown the program indefinitely.

But, again, the infamous Ponzi scheme is back in Nigeria and promises an even bigger return of 50%.

This return of investment has sparked mixed feelings among Nigerians, considering that the previous one of 30% ROI ended up crashing.

This has, however, not deterred a lot of people from throwing their hard-earned savings into the scheme.

MMM Website & How it works

The scheme currently operates in Nigeria using mmmcooperation.com; and tagging itself “a community of ordinary people, selflessly helping each other, a kind of the World Fund of mutual aid”.

Interested participants must first of register at the website, after which they’ll be able to login to their Personal Office (PO).

In the personal office, participants can decide to Provide Help (PH) or Get Help (GH).

However, first time participants must first of all Provide Help (PH) and wait for a minimum of 30 days required to grow their money. Thereafter, they can proceed to Getting Help and be matched to another participant who decided to provide help.

Should you participate?

MMM is the biggest Ponzi Scheme to ever exist, and ponzi schemes rely on new contributions to pay existing contributors. Therefore, the whole setup is completely unreliable.

At some point, the scheme will find it difficult to continue attracting new contributions at the required numbers and rates. This will as a result lead to collapse of the system and loss of money.

According to various reports, Nigerians lost an estimated 18 billion Naira as a result of MMM.

This led to suicide attempts and bankruptcy for many unfortunate participants.

We therefore urge citizens to stay away from this Ponzi Scheme, as you never can tell when and at what point it will crash.

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MMM office in Nigeria?

MMM has no visible office in Nigeria. However, it attends to all queries and complaints from participants online. Needless to say, this is another red flag.

See some hilarious and interesting reactions from several Nigerians after learning of the relaunch of MMM.

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