Barely a few weeks after it took
over the social media, targeting young Nigerians to participate in a pyramid
scheme, Loom, a Ponzi scheme has slowed down, as fewer people now reportedly
invest in it.
Probably garnering lessons from
the bitter experience millions of Nigerians had when another Ponzi scheme, MMM,
crashed in 2016, various Loom groups have become inactive lately.
Like every Ponzi scheme, Loom was
actually expected to last for a short time.
Some Nigerians have started
complaining of the slow pace at which the scheme is going.
Nigerians Share Experiences
“The progress is not encouraging
at all, once I cash out in this round, I won’t put my money again,” said Rose,
a phone outlet attendant, whom this reporter had earlier interviewed.
Rose said, “For the past one
week, no new person has joined the group.”
“People are afraid it might crash
soon, so once they collect their, nobody markets for the group again.”
According to her, she has
“cashed-out” N88,000 so far with the N11,000 she ‘invested.’ She said she put
in N2000 three times to get N16,000 each and also invested N1000 in five places
to get N8000 each.
Femi Smart, another investor,
said, “Loom is a teamwork, if everybody is working, we will all get our money
and if we don’t invite people, then the scheme will go off”.
Mr Smart, who also confirmed the
slow pace of the scheme said, “everyone is being careful to invest because of
what happened with MMM.”
Rabi Yusuf, a hairstylist, said
she believes she has lost her money as she has not been able to convince anyone
to join her group.
“I paid 2k into someone’s account
since last week, I have not heard from her since I am not on WhatsApp. Any time
I call, she will say I should look for somebody to join the group so I can get
my money fast.”
Ms Yusuf said she would not mind
having her capital back without gain.
Government’s strident plea
The Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), just as it did during the inglorious MMM era, had warned
Nigerians against Loom Ponzi scheme saying, it is ‘a looming danger’.
According to the Acting
Director-General of the SEC, Mary Uduk, an inter-agency committee, Financial
Services Regulation Coordinating Committee (FSRCC) is collaborating with
security agencies to track the group and shut it down.
“We, therefore, wish to notify
the investing public that the operation of this investment scheme has no tangible
business model, hence it’s a Ponzi scheme, where returns are paid from other
peoples’ invested sums. Also, its operation is not registered by the
Commission,” she said.
It is not clear what progress the
commission has made ‘in tracking the masterminds of the scheme.’
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com