MMM Nigeria returns but with 3 major changes
Popular Ponzi scheme MMM Nigeria is back, but only after its operators changed the rules without prior notice.
Nigerian accounts were frozen in December 2016 with a promise to reopen on January 14, 2017. That promise was fulfilled a day earlier as MMM reopened today.
But MMM Nigeria operators say it won’t be business as usual. They moved the goal post again without prior notice.
Let’s look at what has changed.
Referrals
Participants will now have to bring new members. Last week, MMM promoters issued instructions to its participants whose accounts were frozen, to perform “Promo Tasks: A New Tool for MMM Community Development.” Operators said last year the scheme wasn’t dependent on referrals. It does now.
The “rich” must wait
Operators say they’ll pay “poor” participants first. “Investors” with more than N100,000 in the scheme may have to wait till those who put in less get paid. Operators may also ask those with over N1 million “invested” to take huge cuts as the scheme may not be able to payout interests that accrued while accounts were frozen. The scheme may have successfully robbed wealthy Peter to pay pauper Peter. It’s also not clear whether participants who’re asked to “provide help” to those who’ll be paid will obey such directive.
Bitcoin
MMM Nigeria is encouraging participants to “provide help” to, and “get help” from the scheme via bitcoin – a digital currency that some say is a Ponzi scheme on its own. Bitcoin is a type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.
