THOUSANDS of people, among them civil servants and vendors, have lost thousands of dollars to fraudulent online pyramid scheme MMM Global Zimbabwe after it collapsed recently. The social financial network, which relied on an accelerating number of new members to pay off the old, abruptly terminated its services last week leaving participants stranded.

This comes as Econet’s mobile financial service platform, EcoCash yesterday distanced itself from the pyramid scheme. Participants claimed they were using EcoCash for their transactions.

Zimbabweans have in the past months been joining the online investment scheme in droves in a bid “to get rich quickly”. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe warned people that the scheme was fraudulent and there was no legal recourse in the event they lost their money.

The central bank said MMM, which advertises its operations through a website and recruiting agents, was not a registered or regulated entity. EcoCash yesterday said: “We have noted that some of these pyramid schemes are allegedly advertising in a manner that suggests that the Ecocash facility is a medium for prospective members to deposit their money. This is not correct.

“We advise our valued customers and all stakeholders that Ecocash is a licensed mobile payment platform that enables customers to make financial transactions such as sending money, buying prepaid airtime as well as paying for goods and services within the confines of the law of Zimbabwe. EcoCash promotes safe and legal transactions but will not be held liable for any losses arising from the use of EcoCash to engage in illegal activities such as Ponzi schemes.”

The scheme advertises itself as a mutual aid fund under which recruited members contribute money to assist others and are promised investment returns of 30 percent per month. Some of the people left counting their losses told The Herald that they received emails that the scheme had been suspended until September 15.

“All along things were moving in the right direction and we now have nowhere to claim our investments,” said Mr Tinashe Muza of Harare.

“When we started putting our funds in the scheme one could get assistance within seven days but things later changed to 14 days and when we were shut out the waiting period was 21 days. What it simply means is that the number of people in need of help has outnumbered the number of people joining. Right now we have nowhere to get our money which we invested.”

MMM stands for Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox and takes its name from its founder, Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi of Russia. He founded MMM in 1989 and the scheme was declared bankrupt three years later leading to the disappearance of Mavrodi until his arrest in 2003.

Another victim, Mrs Rosemary Mawonde said: “We never thought the scheme would end this way as we believed that by using EcoCash to do the transactions, things were in order. I am surprised that EcoCash is also distancing itself from the scheme and it is clear that I will never recover the $300 that I invested.”

While some people who were skeptical about the scheme started with small amounts, it is believed some poured in thousands of dollars anticipating higher returns. The RBZ said the schemes were fraudulent as existing investors were ‘paid money not from genuine market investment of their funds, but from contributions made by new investors, until a point when the scheme can no longer attract new investors,”

“The participants are made aware that they make their money by recruiting new members who in turn must recruit more members,” warned the Central Bank.

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288 COMMENTS

    • Madam my fiancee also confirmed it to me..that they also duped pple in Asian. Once they hit their target, they will disappear. Its true that some pple may win for now.. that’s just a way of them making u biliv in what they doing. CBN has also warned u guys so that u won’t say that CBN recognises them. A word is enough for the wise.

    • Look @ ifunaya ds is d age of information, if u hv ur facts pls show us . Its not fair to jus generalise. D fact dt u talked abt giving gift tells me u dont kn anything abt mmm . As for jubu, u also showed some ignorance. We don’t contribute money any wia in mmm. So if d site is in accessible it’s either in pause mode or reset. It would be better u guys ask for more details b4 u categorise mmm with every oda financial scheme out dia . In mmm ur funds is with u till u are paired with anoda participant to gv help. Pls seek more info abt mmm with an open mind. Come mk some clean legit money. I dd nt say resign from what u r doing o, bcos mmm is nt a career.

    • Most of you are just ranting.. You said MMM will crash and that MMM is trying to scam us of our money.. Right? Which of the money are you guys talking about.. Is it the money in my pocket or the one in MMM’S account? Mind you, MMM does not have a central account where all the members deposit their money.. The question now is How do you guys figured MMM is a scam when our money never gets to them? I want someone to convince me on that maybe I will have a change of mind…

    • MMM will eventually crash because u can’t keep having endless extra mavros not accounted for by the real money in the system. Ideally the mavros value should be changing based on actual GH done daily in the system if it is supposed to work forever .The people running the site are probably GHing without PHing so funneling money out of the system they make u write statement that u collected money from the system to make sure you really can’t sue them because you were also told about the risk. This will not stop Nigerians from participating ,a desperate person will do anything and now is the time to do MMM when people are actually rushing to put money in it forced by recession and unpaid salaries

    • Ben Chuka-amuta do what u like. A stubborn fly follows the dead body to the grave. I rest my case..keep waiting for who will go to Thailand n get first hand info for u..don’t worry, u will witness UT ursef.

  11. Hahaha…we hv heard of dis very old story find us a new trend, ,lyk mmm Japan crash or mmm ivory Coast crashes as ppl loses dia money…..we are waiting for nigerian own 2 crash because we are Nigerians nd we love losing money 2 fraudulent scam

  13. They won’t hear now because of the hard economy. Look, they have also duped alot of Asian pple with this crab..once they hit their target, they will disappear. Some pple will win their gift n money so as to draw attention..once they reach their major target or pple become suspicious of their doing, they will disappear. U pple shouldn’t trust all of these oo. Anyways, I go dey hear when pple go dey commit suicide n raining curses upon them when they disappear like they did in Thailand n other places. A word is enough for the wise

  15. I knw Nigeria bank are going crazy since MMM came out,no matter wat they say,I ve made up to 3 millionaire from it n ve withdrew my capital n ve been trading with 1 million path my interest so even if the close I got noting to loose

  16. Wake up…….. Once the site is inaccessible you are gone. Why talking like old person that’s not computer literate… Sorry for una in advance. Check Wikipedia and see the history of mmm itself and verify the number of people that has died due to the huge amount of money lost to the useless scheme. My brothers and sisters work hard and get payed never depend on cheap money like mmm, gambling, and betting. No food for lazy man.

  23. in case u dont kno,i hav made my principal money back…wat am reaping nw is d excess benefit from MMM money,even if it crash today am nt losing…beside it will not crash…banking sector how far for business nao? lolz long live MMM

  28. I love Nigerians,we believe in seeing…No sign or anything can stop a desperate person……………………………………..In other news,do u know u can learn china,try saying this words fast………………. Very soon my shoe shall shine.

  30. Naija pple no go hear until the thing crash and dey lose money na dat tym dem go say pmb govt no good, and my fellows igbos will now be shouting biafra all d way. dis so called mmm doesn’t have office anywhere in nigeria, so where una dey go complain? mmm is an online thing u no go see person wey u dey send money to, nothing to sell and nothing to buy rubbish

    • You are satan himself you send lighten and death? To people that are worried for their brothers and sisters? And you call your self apostle? May God have mercy on you. Don’t your bible tells you to be your brother’s keeper? Stop it.

  35. Mmm has been playing this scheme since 1990 you can check it on Wikipedia or Google, Nigerian market on mmm will crash soon once it is ripe enough . it has been the trick of Mr. Mavrodi the founder from Russia and his brother and I believe they are agent of Satan. It will crash soon. And people will loose their money as usual and no one will be held accountable as you are all dealing with a faceless company

    • Do you know that mavro is another word for a form of grape fruit? Well there is no other thing called mavro and I feel sorry for the Nigeria paying attention to these bogus figure you have and most Nigerian don’t read neither do they go through safety procedures when they hear money. Finally there are alot of pyramid schemes out there and mmm is one of them, I always advice people not to invest in what they can not see most people just hear about buying this “mavro” but no body will ever take out time to know what mavro is or mean and in this context it stands for Sergei Mavrodi,[2] his brother Vyacheslav Mavrodi, and Olga Melnikova and if you take the last names of this three (3) you will have mmm and they are the founder and owner of mmm

    • Maxwell John Wikipedia article can b written by any blogger or even ordinary person. MMM 1990 is different from MMM now. Read am well sir. Is der any network financial scheme dat hasn’t been called ponzi? No risk no reward

  40. MMM is not a ponzi scheme I don’t know why the government will not let it be. MMM is Real and it has come to stay. In MMM we donate to each other just like “Ajoo or Akawo” and at the end of every 30days you get 30%bonus on whatever amount you have given out to help someone. So what’s the big deal there. Even bankers use people money to do MMM. Mteeeeew

    • What are these ones commenting about? Is MMM ponzi? Yes….was it banned in Russia and China? Yes…did the guy went to jail? Yes.. Did MMM just pause/close in Zimbabwe? Yes….what els people need to know? Have you ever asked where the 30% comes from? 10% goes to who invites you…and another 10% goes to the guider…so basically its 50% on every invest you made..how’s the money generated?

    • MMM in Zimbabwe failed cos no new participants which myt b as a result of fear. So for MMM in Nigeria to stand more ppl needs to cum in. Casting n binding optimists won’t change anytin instead let’s bring in more ppl to join so as to safeguard ur interest. Do u knw majority of ppl don’t want to put in dia cash by December? D question is nw wat happens wen d amt of people who wants to GH re more Dan dose dat want to pH?

  48. Hahaha… WE re use to crashing things we hv heard of dis very old story find us a new trend, ,lyk mmm Japan crash or mmm ivory Coast crashes as ppl loses dia money…..we are waiting for nigerian own 2 crash because we are Nigerians nd we love losing money 2 fraudulent scam…………………… d more d crashes d more we gain……………………#mmmpays……………..

  49. The fact still remains MMM is real, for how long ? no one can say, Invest wisely make whatever you want to make, don’t get too greedy, if it crashes yes some people and I repeat SOME people will loose their money but alot of people will definitely make alot of money, so at the end of the day it’s all about how well you can calculate and manage your risk as it is in every investment HIGH RISK HIGH GAIN participate but be smart about it. If/when it’s going to crash you will see the signs if you do your maths properly. The signs don’t seem to be there yet so for now IMO it’s relatively safe.

  59. Only fools will listen to Yaba left. MMM is far from what u think it is. If u are not in it, u fight against it, but once u are part of us, u fight for its sustainability. God bless MMM Nigeria.

    • Are you really a pastor? Cause trust me if you are a pastor with discerning spirit…one that truly hears from God…you wont be doing MMM…God would have shown you what it truly is and how it makes people cry at the very end. Why not talk to an investment banker or a finance guru before putting your hard-earned money in MMM? Think about it…nothing good comes easy…if it sounds to good to be true it probably is……talk to a finance expert or your personal finance manager before throwing your money into this scheme….you’ll thank me one day for this advice.

    • Now one of the principle tenets of wisdom is observation and ‘reading-between-the-lines”…This site you are throwing your money in and telling innocent gullible Nigerians to join…..Boldly wrote on their website that you should use spare money and not put all your money inside…..and it puts it as a warning…..any businessman worth his salt knows that this statement alone is dangerous…to a discerning mind …it shows you that the scheme cannot be trusted…..that statement alone is MMM’s plausible deniability….which means ..if it fails tomorrow you cant hold them liable…..but greed is a very horrible horrible thing…it has a very uncanny ability to completely blind and deafen those under its power….In business and matters involving money…always use your head to think and not your stomach….shebi you are a pastor? just read the richest man in babylon….i pray it grants you wisdom.

  60. How you go dey take panadol for another person headache you tell me say na false I join make my money you tell me say im freez for Zimbabwe I receive alert the same day may be you go tell me another story tomorrow that will make me vex open 10accts. You never warn Nigerian one day to beware of buhari which is more dangerous than Mmm. If you know one join na your problem.

    • You should search Google for an answer yourself.. No one will do your dirty job for you.. It’s a pity media houses are brainwashing most of you.. Yabaleft said MMM ZIMBABWE crashed, instead of you all to try and have the evidence beyond the reasonable doubt, you didn’t do that.. All you do is “I said it” “Now it’s MMM NIGERIA turn to crash.. Google search it very well.. MMM ZIMBABWE lives on

    • Exactly.. E no concern you or anyone.. I don’t know when you guys start worrying about other people’s problem.. If they scam us, it’s our money and if we succeed it’s still our money. So you guys should just stop ✋ all these nonsense. Most of you are praying ? and even fasting just to see the downfall of MMM NIGERIA just because you don’t want other people to be better than you..

  65. Hmmmm! Nigerians! Old or new news, let’s be careful. So many ve come n go, so many people died, lost so many things because of quick money!! We neva learn. My prayer is that u won’t be a victim when it will clash. Money Madness Motivation

  67. One day a tourist comes to the only hotel in a debt ridden town. He lays a 100 dollar note on the table & goes to inspect the rooms. Hotel owner takes the note & rushes to pay his debt to the butcher. Butcher runs to pay the pig farmer. Pig farmer runs to pay the feed supplier. Supplier runs to pay the prostitute, who in these hard times gave her services on credit. Prostitute then runs to pay off her debt to the hotel owner for the rooms she rented for her clients. Hotel owner then lays the 100 dollar note back on the counter. The tourist comes down, takes his money & leaves as he did not like the rooms.
    No one earned anything. But that group of people is now without debt.
    can u explain, how all those people settled their debt, and the white man still went away with his money.
    Money in circulation has power. so long as people re providing help, both new and old members, getting the 30% interest won’t be a problem, since its just money in circulation.
    but what do I know.
    you can join n make money or u can decide not to join n worst still u can continue running it down. ur choice.
    the community is growing n more people re smiling daily

  72. Story for the gods
    3 kinds of people in the world

    1 those that loves to look
    2 those that loves to complain
    3 those that accomplish their goals
    So #yabaleft u guys are number 2 hahahahahaha if u can’t keep up with the game don’t step up with the game or if u can’t beat them join them

  74. Let them say whatever they can, this is one propaganda that will get them no where rather, it will make MMM more popular. I will soon get onto MMM. Let them tell us what the Nigerian govt is doing to get people out of the woods. But do they really care? Let them leave us alone please.

  78. Ehmmmmmmm see I don’t know y u people re worried about our headache. Eheeee no wahala Na our money so abeg make una mind una business. D idea of trying to paint it black is what I don’t understand.

  81. Old news.. They were operating a central account then but right now it’s decentralized.. I pay to my neighbor, my neighbor pays to me. Even if mmm crashes we are ready to crash with it. Sergey Mavrodi is my president as far as I’m concerned and should be invited to help us out of this recession

  85. Guys by this weekend i will be Making my 2nd million from mmm, and I only started with just 200k… I’ve done so many things with the cash i got from mmm… Now tell me how I’m going to loose if they fold up today? The government are saying it will affect economy ‘cus people are not transacting with the bank like b4. Tell me who economy help?

  92. Hmmm..all these MMM guiders..coming up with different explanations….the drama that will happen in Nigeria when this scheme finally collapses…..It will be so funny!…….Greed is what makes a scam successful….never work with greed. if it looks to be true…it probably is.

  93. And here is a simple advice i have for all these MMM people…pls before you “Invest”…why not discuss with someone that has good knowledge of finance? someone that has experience in business dealings and investments? Is it not wise to consult someone who understands the inner workings of finance before putting your money in a scheme that has so many red flags? Pls do not be guided by greed…..it blinds reason…..if it seems to good to be true…it probably is!

    • This is not an investment it is mutual donation… OGA!!!!
      How do you expect a financial investment guru to make decisions for you… It your choice to join or not .but respect others who have decided to join mmm#peace#

    • Uncle Ifeanyichukwu are u a politician? Or are u a financial advisor? Cos I’d like to ask you how much you know about MMM. My broda wen d desirable is not available you make the available desirable, is dat greed? Whom has d financial gurus helped? Buhari says economic recession but is his salary recessed? Oga u n I both know these things. Hit the hammer on d head of d nail please.

    • Lilian Nwachukwu what is finance? A mutual donation? And they are telling you 30% interest? Do donations work with interest rates? Hmmm……greed is very dangerous! I urge you once more……consult someone with an understanding of finannce…..let them explain what a pyramid scheme is to you. You have nothing to lose seeking extra advice……but you have a lot to lose putting your money in something you don’t truly understand. This site specifically warns you not to put all your money…..that you should use money you can dispose…..honestly tell me……why do you think they are telling you that? Use your common sense! Don’t let greed blind you to reason. That statement alone is their ‘plausible deniability’ ……which means if it fails tomorrow you can’t sue them or blame them. That is not an investment….it’s a gamble!

  94. My broda…..do you know why a scam is a scam? when they bait you and discover you are beginning to have doubts…they come up with explanations all to keep you in line. Have you bordered discussing with a credible, seasoned business person or an investment banker about investing in this kind of business? Have you taken your time to understand how pyramid/ponzi schemes work?…..the same way you think MMM is legit is the same way thousands of people who have lost their money to schemes like these also though they were legit. Don’t use greed to do business….a scammer will always deceive you…he will never tell you that he plans to dupe you…..he will bamboozle you with all sorts of explanations to quell your doubts..until that cold morning when their plan has finalized which by then will be too late for you to do anything.

  101. They told us MmM crashed in SA… As at the time they were saying it… We were about 500,000Nigerians in MMM.
    We held strongly.. Kept moving.
    Then SEC came up with another talk…. We grew up to 600,000.
    Then CBN and FG started together with theirs.. last 2weeks… As at today MMMNigeria has above 800,000 participants. Lols

    Alas… The media saw that MMMNigeria is giving free 1000NGN to everyone who registers between 26th Sept to Oct 1st 2016 to celebrate the independence of our Nation Nigeria. And because they know that before MMM gets to 1year in Naija… We would be 1million participants… they are fighting tooth and nail to see it doesn’t happen and inadvertently helping to publicize MMM….. lols… Naso.

    Well well well… The MMM Community remains unshaken. And we are ready brave the oppositions.

    I am a blogger. If you look at those stuffs you have been reading… They are copy and paste. Same thing. Did you not read about same MMMZimbabwe last 2weeks? Lols.

    Nigerian Bloggers are playing on y”all. Using you to make more dollars for themselves. Oh yeah. When you log in to those sites, you give them traffic. They give you what you wanna hear… Well, you go believe na.. No be naija again?

    Go check MMMZimbabwe website and see that as at yesterday, people were writing letters of happiness.
    Hehehehhehehehehehe.

    No be today we see MMMZimbabwe scandal. Call your brother in Zimbabwe and confirm if it were so.

    I THEREBY USE THIS MEDIUM TO TELL EVERY PARTICIPANT IN MMMNIGERIA TO REMAIN CALM.

    OUR ENEMIES ARE PANIC AND GREED.

    OVERCOME PANIC, OVERCOME GREED.

    MMMNIGERIA WILL BLOSSOM.

    Together we will change the world.
    #copied

  103. Why stopping , please don’t stop. You do need to invest to make more money and that is normal. The best proverb for the adamant investor is that of a man on a rag that chose to dance at night, morning will come

  107. This is a clear ponzi scheme that is as old I can remember. Same old plan well scheme that failed in the 70s is being rw-invented. Why cant people just see the clear things clearly. Its always the first set of intakes that benefits. Well I am ready to laugh when the vail is removed.

  108. Continue….i absolutely cant tell you what to do……Just dont let your wants/greed control your decisions…it never ends well! Hard work is the only true way to make money…dont fall victim for Get-rich-quick-schemes. At first the water is sweet…at the end it becomes extremely Bitter!

  109. As members of MMM, we know the risk is high and so also is the reward (30%). Deposit bank offers 4-5% returns on your fixed deposit( this is a risk-free investment), while they give u loans on a 20-25% interest. So, no one should complain about MMM, since participants are aware of the risk and, yet they are not aversed.

  110. MMM Zimbabwe has crashed guy……do you expect a scammer to tell you the reason he is scamming you….? Do you expect a scammer to tell you the truth?….Seriously? no Wahala….Just do what you like man…..enjoy

  111. Who remember well solution????? My mom was a victim of that scheme as far back 2002 she was scam……can anyone tell me if well solution still operating….am not so surprise to see a pastor on this site supporting mmm, same pastor lure my mum into the scheme #experienceisthebestteacher

  113. U always read the bad side of the negative news, while others are making from it stay there and pray for money to come it will soon fall from heaven. Negative mind set of people

    • Poor mindset, fear of d unknown, no risk takers, being too careful dat d problem of pessimistic people. Dey will wake one day n see dat everything about life is a choice. Choice 2 join MMM or choice 2 remain a financial slave

  118. I really don’t know why I don’t have interest in all this put 1naira and get 2naira interest na contribution? If mmm opens a site or whatever and link people together tell u who to give funds and u kindly walk in to the bank and deposit fund to someone who is anonymous bro to me its scam base on normal understanding…2, if mmm doesn’t av any separate account how do they make their profit or don’t they have staff or maintain their sever and so on? I know lots of fellas making Money from this stuff but I really pity the ones that will get stuck in it bcos E GO FEEL ENTA MARROW…

  120. The funniest part of the whole thing is that, none of the so called participants can explain the source of the money they re giving them as bonus and interest %. Aside that, those that ve been collecting money can’t even point at something meaningful they ve done with the money, they just see free money and grab it without asking questions.

  122. Ugwu Joy Greed is controlling your thinking…..a word of advice though….dont use another person’s money or drag another person into this MMM….cause when it eventually crashes..which is only a matter of time…you will know that some people can be animals….trust me!

  124. Yabaleft una fall my hand big tym… MMM will neva crash…… Hungry n outdated bloggers n false rumor carriers….for una info mmm Zimbabwe did not crash
    Make Una find berra tinz to do wif Una tym and
    Research well before posting shit coz pple will just lose interesting in una….hiss
    God bless MMM

  130. If only most of you realize how web pages or even social media make their money then you all will desist from your dubious talks about MMM.. Do you know how much you contribute via your data for just an hour(minimum),not to talk of days/months?? It’s called network trafficking. The more we come together with various contributions to offer help, the more profit we shall achieve for ourselves.. It’s imperative you understand how the system works before you come to a denouement/conclusion about it. Life generally is about Risk.. MMM pays and I’m a proud member..!

  131. If only most of you know how some web pages or various social media make their money then you all will desist from your dubious talks about MMM.. Do you know how much you contribute via your data for just an hour(minimum),not to talk of days/months?? It’s called network trafficking. The more we come together with various contributions to offer help, the more profit we shall achieve for ourselves.. It’s imperative you understand how the system works before you come to a denouement/conclusion about it. Life generally is about Risk.. MMM pays, but the choice remains yours.!

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