Nigerians lost N18bn to Ponzi schemes – SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says over three million Nigerians have lost about N18bn through Ponzi schemes.

Ponzis are fraudulent investing schemes which generate returns for early investors with money taken from later investors.

The commission’s Director-General Lamido Yuguda made the disclosure during a webinar organised by it on Tuesday.

Yuguda emphasized that, “Ponzi schemes operate with unsustainable operating models that ultimately lead to huge losses for investors.

“Following the collapse of the MMM Ponzi scheme, the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation had estimated that over three million Nigerians lost about N18bn.”