Thursday, December 15, 2016

MMM: A PONZI SCHEME MONEY PYRAMID TAKES ROOT IN NIGERIA.

Icheoku says one of the signs of a tanked and struggling  economy is the desperation of the people to find anything that gives them some sense of hope that things are still under control; that they will survive; regardless of the foolishness and/or unrealistic their hope or venture might sometimes be. Like a drowning person, the people are forced into a survival mode, clinging and grappling, looking for, doing things and holding unto things which other more rationally saner observers would consider rather foolish and/or not thought out through properly. They become easy preys, sitting ducks, for these predators masquerading as saviors who approach them with mouth-watering schemes of a paradise on earth. Being desperate, they easily bite the bait and before you could say Jack, they would be wishing the earth had opened up and swallowed them earlier before they were prospected, rather than remain in the place where they subsequently found themselves.

It has happened severally in the past, both in other climes and in Nigeria as well; and it is once again happening in Nigeria with proliferation of so many of those 419 "miracle-working" men and women of "God" and their fakery. These 419 false custodians of heavenly grace are promising hopelessly frantic gullible Nigerians miracle of riches; and when these victims cannot wait long enough, even after twenty years, for their own miracle of riches to come to fruition, they turn to other lurking exit route from their life's situational problems. This is the yawning gap which MMM seeks to and has come to fill and they are succeeding in ensnaring a population that is both desperate and nearing despondency and which is increasingly tethering on edge. A population which is in a mad rush to make it big and without necessarily putting in the required hard work which success always requires. Icheoku says the Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox phenomenon is one such huge scam and is exploiting the two conditions which predatory scam artists are always looking for in their potential victims - need and desperation, which translates to vulnerability. 

The Russians Ponzi scheme MMM has invaded Nigeria and is currently making mince-meat lunatics out of millions of Nigerian desperadoes who fantasize about hitting the big pay day.  They have their dream cars, houses, lifestyles mapped out but do not want to travel the often thongs-strewn beaten path that yields such. This very gullible forget that there is no free lunch anywhere and that if it looks too good to be true, it might as well be so. They also forget that when you go to Las Vegas or Macau, you go there just for fun; but if you happen to land a jackpot, then it becomes an additional blessing but never the expected norm because the odds are always in favor of the house. They forget the rule of life that if you want it, you either earn it or you steal it and that bank robbery or drug pushing will not be in existence if there is any money scheme that truly doles out such fantastic largess. But regrettably, such scams usually come with sugar coated and mouth-watering promises that too often prove irresistible to their victims. This ensnaring tool, the beautiful promises, they normally fulfill to the primary baseline first responders; which they would then use to bait their intended target, the other millions of people, who would then be left holding the plate and through whom the promoters would have their payday. 

Rule number one to three of making money, there is no cheap or easy money anywhere on planet earth; so if you want it, you have to either work for it or take the high stakes risk associated with getting it. There is no shortcut or Father Christmas who loves you enough to want to double or triple your money. But the gullible and easily swayed, hopelessly overtly excited people, who usually fall prey to such bait and switch scam, often act with suspended intellect. These are the people possessed by the fantastical nonsense of get rich quick scheme, the MMM mania which is sweeping across Nigeria. Some of the people are also in dire need of staying alive and to keep hope alive, have found themselves so vulnerable that they have fallen victims to these predatory scammers. A country people which have found themselves in a state of extended miasma and are looking for any way out, are unfortunately lining themselves up for the inevitable heartbreak which will come with an assured burst of the current MMM bubble. It is the same reason the 419 men and women of "God" are cashing in on Nigerians with their pretentious miracle of riches that have provided such an instant anchor for MMM - gullibility and crave for instant riches without working for it. 

If only these Nigerians have heard about the notorious Bernard Maddof of the United States of America who made off with nearly $150 billion of other peoples money in a similar Ponzi scheme before he was finally nabbed and now serving 150 years in prison. The arrangement is simple - it is called other peoples money collective with pittance paid out as interest from the same money deposited to entice enough customers before they eventually cash out and crash the scheme. It is not if but when MMM will crash because as with every such money Ponzi scheme, the intention of the operator is simple - maximize the outtake and get out fast. That Nigerian government has not shut down MMM shows the rot that is the country's leadership; although it is practically a way of life now for so many, but a government that is worth its duties and responsibilities to the people would have since saved them the inevitable future heartbreak with a little inconvenience now of shutting it down. Icheoku says if their promised returns were realistic, there would be no banking industry in existence as everybody would empty their accounts and turn their money over to MMM. But no, the desperate deaf poor wants to cross over the great divide between haves and have nots, and are prepared to do whatever it takes. 

Those who were around in the mid eighties to early nineties, before 419 took hold and over everything, would remember that similar money schemes existed and were everywhere in Nigeria, but where are they today. The same fate awaits MMM and all those hopelessly possessed Nigerian "investors" waiting to hit the jackpot the easy way. That MMM have crashed in other countries including Zimbabwe is not enough to dissuade these vulnerable Nigerians from putting their money into such a burning fire that will consume it. In the final analysis, wonder banks never work the wonders they promise; therefore knowledgeable people do not patronize such schemes because experience shows that their activities are not sustainable and that if you get involved, you will be burnt somewhere down the road. Please fellas, if you can avoid the temptation, avoid the money virus that is now feeding off the vulnerable and gullible Nigerians who are hoping to make it big and make it out like bandits. It has hurt before and it is going to hurt again, so please get out before you go down. As PE DJT would say to people acting out, ICHEOKU says to you, please STOP IT and now.

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