The MMM financial pyramid has long been known in Russia. Its creator, Sergei Mavrodi, deceived many people by offering them gigantic dividends for unsecured "shares" known popularly as "maurodiks." After his release from prison in 2011, he created a worldwide organization that does the same thing, only on the Internet. The most gullible were the inhabitants of African countries. Lenta.ru tells how the new financial pyramid works and why its investors sing songs praising Mavrodi and MMM.

Wedding and insecticide

A day ago, the Nigerian Anakole was confident in his future: on December 28, he would get married and live a happy family life. In order to adequately celebrate his marriage, the man put 750,000 Nigerian naira into growth by investing them in the “social financial network MMM”. He hoped that every month a dividend of 30 percent would be accrued on the deposit.

Anacol had no doubt that he would receive this money. He had already used the system before, and it did not let him down. But this time it was different. On December 13, 2016, MMM (which in Nigeria and many other countries stands for Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox) announced the suspension of money issuance for a month, promising to continue work in January next year.

IN open letter Sergey Mavrodi, who in 1994 had already pulled off a similar scheme in Russia, immediately announced that Nigerian bloggers and the media publishing "provocative and useless articles" were to blame for everything. “I am simply shocked by your irresponsibility and cynicism. The interests of millions of people, your fellow citizens, are at stake. Why do you stir up hysteria around MMM and provoke panic? - he was indignant.

Upon hearing the news of the collapse of the system, Anacol called his friend, who repeatedly warned him that Mavrodi's venture was a scam. He later told local media, “I told him it was all true. He screamed and hung up. I ran to Anakole's house and found that he was sick." The African decided to commit suicide, but he was taken to the clinic. Now nothing threatens his life, but so far he has no idea how his future life will turn out. And he is very ashamed to look into the eyes of his bride.

Come back tomorrow

On the Nigerian MMM website, the system was described as "a mutual aid fund in which ordinary people help each other". The principle is nowhere simpler: a person brought his money to the "fund" and received it back a month later with a 30 percent dividend. Ultimately, MMM hoped to “end poverty” in a country that had experienced its first economic crisis in many years a year ago.

Help is not a figure of speech. A rather dubious scheme was covered up by this concept: by making a contribution, a person, as it were, “provided assistance” to another participant who is already in the system. Bringing a friend, he provided himself with a future payment with interest, that is, he “received help”, but, more importantly, gave the system a new depositor. And, of course, all MMM sites were full of statements that this was by no means a financial pyramid scheme.

But the outcome of the scam is always predictable, and before MMM came to Nigeria, other African countries could already see this. The early contributors do receive their dividends, but when the management decides that the potential of the system has been exhausted, the same scenario repeats itself: Mavrodi or the leadership of the branch claim that the press and government departments are interfering with the work of the organization, and suspend the issuance of money.

Mutual assistance Mavrodi

Of course, the times when "Mavrodiki" were paper ones are long gone. All operations for investing and receiving money are carried out online. A person makes a “contribution” to the system, which is translated into Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The benefit of this step for the organizers of the scam is simple: virtual money is not controlled by banks and government agencies and exists on its own, due to the complex software installed by each of their owners.

Now a person can buy "Mavro" - the same "Mavrodiki" that were lying in huge quantities in Russian landfills in the 90s (with one difference - "Mavro" exists only in the MMM digital system on the depositor's account). To do this, the user must create a "request for assistance" for another member of the pyramid. He offers him his bitcoins, and in return he receives a Mavro.

What is the meaning of the operation? Those same 30 percent of income per month, which MMM promises, come precisely in "Mavrodiki". The user "provides assistance", receives a "mavro" and waits. After a month, he creates a request for "getting help", after which the system shows him requests for help. Then he receives the required amount of bitcoins from another participant in the pyramid, giving him "Mavrodiki". Everyone seemed to be happy.

However, as you might guess, Mavrodi's activities are not at all aimed at creating a disinterested "system of mutual assistance" and certainly not at eliminating poverty in African countries Oh. The money that investors bring is deposited in the accounts of the owners of the structure. For them, users allegedly receive bitcoins, which are immediately exchanged for “Mavrodiki”. They have to withdraw the bitcoins they received in response to a request for “getting help”, without the help of an organization.

When it becomes clear that there is nothing more to catch in the next country and everyone has already taken part in the pyramid, the department suspends work. "Mavro" cease to exchange, and Mavrodi begins to write angry appeals, calling to punish the "false media", analysts and the state. There are promises to resume the work of the structure in a month, but, of course, this is a hoax: MMM either dissolves into oblivion or restarts according to a new scheme, according to which most of the deposits are reset to zero.

happiness letters

To move the system into different countries MMM uses visual agitation. Representatives of the organization travel around cities and villages, urging citizens to bring their savings to them, but the main propaganda is carried out on the Internet. In addition to specialized sites and numerous blogs calling for participation in pyramid building, there are many videos and text statements in which participants praise Mavrodi and declare their love for MMM, which allowed them to earn money from the comfort of their sofa.

Where do they come from? The fact is that writing the so-called “letter of happiness” (Letter of Happiness, or simply LOH is a rather ironic abbreviation, but it is unlikely that residents of the countries in which MMM operates know what “loh” means in Russian) is mandatory for investors. After the first operation that the user performs in the system, a dialog box appears in front of him with the requirement to tell the world about how Mavrodi helped him. This must be done within the next three days, otherwise the depositor will be kicked out of the system. After sending the letter, the user can count on a certain bonus.

Nigerian contributors sing MMM song

Two lines are not enough - the participant must indicate his status in the system, the date and amount of "help" provided and received, and also leave a laudatory review of the MMM. In addition, he must attach a screenshot or file showing the transfer of money to the structure, and provide a link to his YouTube video, which contains a declaration of love for the organization.

True, not all users follow these instructions. An angry letter even hung on the MMM Global website, in which the moderators of the system scolded the participants for laziness, which is why most of the “suckers” have to be rejected. “It just doesn’t fit in our heads why so many people have no gratitude and respect for the community in general and in particular for those who helped them!” they wrote. The correct text of the letter with the correct ending was also given there: “Many thanks to all the participants who helped me, and, of course, to the founder of this unique community - Sergey Mavrodi. MMM Global is cool! Together we will change the world!!!

MMM India manager sings a motivational song

Ordinary users have no choice but to obey. However, not everyone perceives this as a duty. There are many videos in which Africans, Indians and representatives of other nationalities and races offer praise to the organization and its creator in a musical form. "Mavrodo is my brother, long live MMM!" - Negroes howl emotionally to the guitar. A Nigerian band plays a professionally recorded track about MMM. A middle-aged Hindu sings a "motivational song" to the national tune, urging them to carry their money to the "financial social network".

Indeed, people around the world continue to carry their money in MMM. The system closes in one country and opens in another. So, in December, MMM came to Ghana, promising huge profits and getting rid of poverty to those participating in the “mutual aid program”. The scenario described above will repeat itself over and over again, as it has already happened in Nigeria, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This will soon happen in Kenya and other countries where MMM opens or is still operating.

RIA News

The director of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Isaac Okoroafor, complained that several million of his compatriots lost money due to the activities of the international Internet pyramid MMM Global, behind which is Sergey Mavrodi, well-known in Russia. According to AiF, after law enforcement officers of China and India put forward claims to the network, Mavrodi made a bet on Africa. In Zimbabwe and South Africa, the pyramid scheme has already collapsed and has been banned.

inafran.ru

The pyramid has captured the Nigerians so much that they are still investing their money in it. In a poor country with a very poor population, the idea of ​​getting rich almost instantly gained wide popularity. The MMM site in Nigeria is the 5th most popular site, more popular than Facebook. Hundreds of videos can be found on social networks in which "get rich" Nigerians talk about how they made a fortune thanks to MMM, bought houses and cars. True, there are also stories about those who committed suicide because of the pyramid.

imgur.com

According to Life, the Nigerian branch of MMM was opened in January 2016, at a time when the most populous country on the African continent was experiencing a severe economic crisis associated with falling oil prices. By September, the number of MMM subscribers reached 3 million people. But already in December, it was announced that payments to participants in the scheme were temporarily suspended. In May of this year, the system was restarted, this time with the help of bitcoins. The organizers managed to raise about 18 billion naira ($57 million).

The publication told the story of Nigerian Diana, who also invested family savings in the pyramid, which were set aside to pay for the studies of her three sons. A few weeks after the New Year, all three were expelled. The family, of course, did not see the expected profit. There are already millions of such deceived Nigerians.

ppeofh.blogspot.ru

Nigeria is also known as a country where pyramid schemes are popular. Many Internet users received so-called "Nigerian chain letters" from scammers. Local law enforcement officers are fighting them, but new pyramid MMM came as a surprise to them. According to the publication, the development of MMM in Nigeria received a new impetus even after the pyramid was supported by representatives of the local clergy, who annually fall into the ratings of the richest people in Africa.

Nigerian bankers have already declared war on the new offspring of Mavrodi, offended by the fact that a competitor from the Russian Federation is beating off clients. “Nobody borrows from banks anymore,” local investor Ogadi Ngozi was quoted as saying by Quartz Africa. “Why take money at huge interest rates if you can lend money to Mavrodi’s depositors and get a 30% reward for this?” Bankers are trying to put pressure on law enforcement officers to become more active, but so far to no avail.

• Sergey Mavrodi is a Russian entrepreneur, the creator of the largest financial pyramid MMM, which collapsed in 1994. The damage from its activities amounted to more than 3 billion rubles, and according to various estimates, 10-15 million Russians were affected. Mavrodi was convicted of fraud and spent a total of about 10 years behind bars. After his release from prison, he was engaged in various Internet projects, including financial ones. In Russia, he managed to repeatedly “restart” MMM (“We can do a lot”), regularly publishing his video reports on YouTube.
• In 2014, Mavrodi founded the MMM-Global project, aimed at African and Asian countries. It is prohibited by law in a number of states. The pyramid received a new impetus after the spread of virtual currencies like bitcoin. The MMM Global Republic of Bitcoin network promised a return of up to 100% per annum for investments in virtual currency - these are "moors" (mavros) and bitcoins. The system's websites say that it operates in 100 countries and has 130 million members.

The investigative unit of the South African police began to investigate the activities of Sergei Mavrodi and his financial pyramid "MMM". According to the South African edition of IOL, "MMM South Africa" ​​is experiencing some difficulties, but continues to guarantee its depositors a monthly profit of 30%.

The Special Investigation Department of South Africa "Hawks" laid eyes on the activities of the notorious in Russia Sergei Mavrodi and his international investment scheme. According to IOL, the financial pyramid "MMM" has already collapsed in Russia, leaving millions of depositors bankrupt, and is now on shaky ground in South Africa, having managed to attract millions of South African investors.

The scheme, called "MMM South Africa", organized by former prisoner Sergei Mavrodi, attracts investors with promises of monthly profit payments of 30%. Despite news that the scheme was starting to unravel, MMM South Africa officials said two offshoots of the company - MMM Global (Republic of Bitcoin) and MMM Extra - were shut down to protect depositors' money, so the South African company was not affected. According to IOL, more than two million South Africans have made contributions to the MMM pyramid scheme since February last year.

According to the representative of the "Hawks" Hangwani Mulaudzi, in front of them is difficult task with the definition of jurisdiction due to the fact that the new financial pyramid conducts operations via the Internet. In addition, he admitted that the investors themselves do not complain to the police.

Earlier in social network Facebook company "MMM" posted the following message: " We regret to inform you about the closure of the Republic of Bitcoin. It was an experiment that, unfortunately, failed. It turned out that we are not able to pay our clients 100% income every month. We can easily pay 30% monthly (which we have demonstrated in practice in many countries), but 100%-too much even for us. It's not the end of the world. We just have to wait a little. We hopeonunderstanding. Administration».

Despite these announcements, local recruiters»continue to convince people to invest in MMM. One of them told the publication that more than 200 million people are included in the Mavrodi pyramid around the world. The aim of the MMM in South Africa is " giving people financial freedom and the standard of living they deserve».

IOL reports that the founder of the scheme, Sergei Mavrodi, had previously personally recorded weekly video messages for his supporters. However, after March 21, he decided to stop this practice. In his latest video for today, he says: News comes when there are some problems. If we don't have any problems-there is no news. Therefore, starting from this day, I will no longer record video messages.».

In the middle of last year, the newspaper recalls, the Communist Party sent an email to its like-minded people from Communist Party South Africa, in which she warned them about the sad experience of Russia. " We would like you to know that as a result of such scams in Russia, at least 15 million people have suffered and gone bankrupt.”, - was written in the letter of the Russian communists.

source IOL South Africa Africa tags

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The MMM financial pyramid - Mavrodi Moneybox Mondial, "Mavrodi's World Treasury" - according to experts, usually falls apart within four years, leaving investors bankrupt, but at the same time, it is surprisingly tenacious.

For more than 30 years, MMM has been marching around the world, led by a notorious Russian scammer who does not hide how it works and does not change its name, Monica Mark writes in an article for BuzzFeed.

By the time of his arrest in Russia in 2000 for tax fraud, Mavrodi had swindled the Russians out of at least $1.5 billion using his scam. However, according to some estimates, this amount can be safely increased 10 times.

The author of the article compares Mavrodi to Wall Street financier Bernie Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009 for committing the biggest financial fraud in US history.

Mavrodi was the Russian Bernie Madoff, and he considered the "financial apocalypse" the goal of his MMM. He planned to replace the world financial system with his own, more, in his opinion, fair. Judging by the official website, more than 230 million people have already entered the Mavrodi system.

In January 2016, MMM launched in the most populous African country, Nigeria. Already by September, by the time its authorities announced the worst recession in decades, more than 3 million Nigerians had joined the pyramid.

BuzzFeed has repeatedly tried to contact Sergey Mavrodi, but he did not respond to the publication's requests for an interview.

One of the founders of Google, Sergey Brin, once called Russia "Nigeria in the snow" and said that both countries are controlled by a "gang of bandits," the journalist recalls. Perhaps this is a stretch, but there are certain parallels between them.

Both countries, according to Monica Mark, suffer from the kleptocracy that usually "accompanies oil wealth." Around the same time that Mavrodi was running his scam in Russia, a similar boom in oil and gas dollar pyramid schemes was unfolding in Nigeria. Ponzi schemes, promising depositors incredible returns, appeared so often that the Nigerian authorities even began to call them "miracle banks".

“People do not trust the authorities, but they trust the criminals because they see how much wealth comes from corruption. They are more likely to trust scammers who give at least something, ”Fola Fabgule from Lagos quotes BuzzFeed as saying.

In her opinion, this mentality prevails in the absence of real opportunities.

In the case of Nigeria, writes Monica Mark, the myth that you can get rich overnight is perpetuated daily: the dressmaker of the president's wife can receive an oil well as a gift, and parliamentarians who are famous for their laziness and corruption earn half a million dollars a year (while the therapist - $6 thousand).

Not surprisingly, the MMM in Nigeria has received the support of some of the "prosperity preachers" who dominate the country's religious sphere. Many Nigerians see Mavrodi as similar to these pastors, who embody everything they think God has to give true believers: mansions, private jets, yachts and Rolex watches.

This explains why MMM has been able to draw Nigerians into new pyramid schemes, this time involving cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Even the Central Bank of Nigeria warned citizens of the country against participating in these pyramid schemes, however, without taking any action to ban them. Soon, the Nigerian media began to receive reports of the suicides of ruined people, writes BuzzFeed.

However, for all its reputation, MMM continues to be a "siren call" for Nigerians and has no qualms about continuing to lure them into its web.

On the MMM Nigeria website, you can also see Mavrodi himself chastising journalists who dared to criticize a system that "could change the world."

“Shocked by your irresponsibility and cynicism. Why are you inflating hysteria around MMM and provoking panic? Do you really care about people?" - the words of Sergey Mavrodi are given at the end of the article.

According to the latest data, millions of residents of Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Morocco and Egypt turned out to be investors in the MMM Global firm, which was created in Africa by Sergey Mavrodi, the organizer of the largest financial pyramid in Russia in the 1990s.

Many of these people are already reproaching themselves for being too gullible. About how a business that is familiar to Russians firsthand works on the African continent - in the RT material.

After serving time in prison for fraud, Sergey Mavrodi created a company on the Internet in 2011, operating according to the same scheme as the first MMM. Roskomnadzor added two resources related to MMM-2011 and MMM-2012 to the Register of Prohibited Sites. At the end of 2015, Mavrodi announced the closure of the system and decided to make money internationally. The MMM Global Republic of Bitcoin network promised a return of up to 100% per annum for investments in virtual cryptocurrency. Claims against the local cells of MMM of Bitcoin quickly appeared among the law enforcement agencies of China and India. In January 2016, the Chinese Central Bank warned citizens to stay away from the MMM program as "MMM China" is a scam.

Soon Mavrodi closed the Republic of Bitcoin, posting the following message on the social network Facebook: “It was an experiment that, unfortunately, failed. It turned out that we are not able to pay our clients 100% income every month. We can easily pay 30% monthly (which we have demonstrated in practice in many countries), but 100% is too much even for us. It's not the end of the world. We just have to wait a little. Hope for understanding. Administration".

Communists warned

On typical MMM sites in African countries, Mavrodi honestly admits that he does not give any guarantees: the probability of losing money is high. And he asks not to invest in the last MMM. However, people often do not heed these warnings. In Nigeria, for example, many have invested in the pyramid even subsidies for school education. According to MMM, the main backbone of the "partners" are poor people, however, in one of the South African forums, users angrily discussed the impossibility of transferring the equivalent of $40,000 at the same time - the transfer had to be divided into several transfers.

In less than a year, the pyramid collapsed in Zimbabwe and South Africa, and tens of thousands of depositors were left with a nose. According to the South African edition of IOL, despite the fact that the bubble has burst, employees of MMM South Africa still maintain that depositors' money is under reliable protection. “According to the representative of the special forces of the financial police “Hawks” Hangwani Mulaudzi, he faces a difficult task with the definition of jurisdiction due to the fact that the new financial pyramid conducts transactions via the Internet. In addition, he admitted that the investors themselves do not file complaints with the police, the newspaper writes. “Despite the announcement that MMM South Africa has stopped paying, local “recruiters” continue to convince people to invest in MMM.”

But the South Africans were sent alarming warnings from distant Russia. According to IOL, in the middle of last year, the Communist Party sent an email to its like-minded people from the Communist Party of South Africa, in which it warned them about the sad experience of the inhabitants of the seventh part of the land. "We would like you to know that as a result of such scams in Russia, at least 15 million people suffered and went bankrupt," Russian communists wrote.

Having successfully closed operations in Zimbabwe and South Africa, MMM Global has established a successful business in Nigeria, where it now has about 2.5 million depositors. In August, Mavrodi's 61st birthday was celebrated as a holiday in the local cells of the MMM - with dances, songs and treats. The head of the Nigerian Central Bank, Isaac Okoroafor, called MMM "a new pyramid scheme that is spreading like wildfire."

"According to the country's parliament member Sahid Fijabi, scammers use" high level unemployment and poverty for the exchange of imprudent Nigerians,” writes the online publication Quartz Africa. - The central bank warned citizens about the danger of giving money to "scammers" promising high interest rates during the economic downturn. But these warnings have only angered MMM savers, who accuse the authorities of having their own ulterior motives.”

Thus, Ogadi Ngozi, an MMM participant from the southern state of Delta, believes that the authorities are trying to protect local banks from competition. “Nobody borrows from banks anymore,” Ogazi told Quartz Africa. “Why take money there at huge interest rates if you can help one or two MMM depositors and get a 30% reward for this with a smile on your face?”

Illiteracy and greed

Recently, an online survey was conducted in the country on why Nigerians accept MMM, despite its history and reputation. According to one Olumide, who claims to be an expert and online consultant for MMM Nigeria, the negative publicity about the project is the result of a "conspiracy" by some people who don't want others to prosper. “It's normal, any good undertaking should have some opposition. But honestly, MMM is the best community I've come across. All the testimonials you see on the site are genuine,” Olumide wrote.

Hetty Hembadun Orkuma, founder of Coffee Colored Books, believes MMM's popularity in Nigeria is due to national character formed on the basis of the prevailing system of beliefs in the country. “I think it has a lot to do with believing in higher power, with the belief in obtaining good luck and wealth without any work. Nigeria's huge population is a bonanza for this kind of pyramid scheme, plus it's a fresh market that's easy to grab at a moment's notice,” Orkuma said.

Former United Bank for Africa employee Onieka Ukasonyu is convinced that greed and illiteracy are to blame. “Moreover, illiteracy is a determining factor,” he says. "Most people who have very little knowledge of the online environment automatically assume that everything coming from the Internet is the truth."

“It took root because people are not sure about tomorrow, are subject to various fears and concerns, manipulation of public consciousness, ”said Yury Skubko, a senior researcher at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT. “In general, this kind of propaganda operates in different countries of the world in conditions of general uncertainty, corruption, in a very unjust society with social stratification.”