Source: http://jetroolowole.com/victims-ponzi-schemes-driven-greed-laziness/

jetroolowole:
In recent times, much have been said of Ponzi Scheme due to MMM Nigeria crashing in the face of economy recession. But truth be told, I don't feel sorry for victims of Ponzi scheme just as I won't feel sorry for someone who lost money to gamble or "Baba Ijebu." In my own opinion, those who falls victims of Ponzi scheme are driven by greed or laziness. Before I buttress that point, it is important to note that Ponzi scheme is not new as some people will want you to believe. The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi, who became notorious for using the technique in 1920.

Why Ponzi Scheme Victims Are Driven By Greed
Normally, as an investor, before you put your money into any business, you should do some research. Just head over to Google and type the phrase "Ponzi scheme". The Wikipedia definition is glaring and give a whole picture of what the scheme is all about. Except: "Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a non-existent enterprise is fostered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors." It is referred to as "a classic Ponzi scheme built on treachery and lies".



Initially the promoter will pay out high returns to attract more investors, and to lure current investors into putting in additional money. Other investors begin to participate, leading to a cascade effect. The "return" to the initial investors is paid out of the investments of new entrants, rather than solely from profits.

Often the high returns encourage investors to leave their money in the scheme, with the result that the promoter does not have to pay out very much to investors; he simply has to send them statements showing how much they have earned. This maintains the deception that the scheme is an investment with high returns.

Ponzi schemes rely on new investors to pay existing investors which make them ultimately unreliable since it cannot continue attracting new investors forever in the required numbers and rates (numbers which actually escalate at exponential rates with every new level of recruitment). Even if the whole population gets recruited (impossible as some are unwilling and some will even actively resist it and convince others not to join, just as its impossible for everyone to join a political party and there is always an opposition), this shows there is a limit beyond which no further recruitment is possible or recruitment begins to slow down sharply enough to cripple the scheme's paying ability. Therefore the scheme is ultimately doomed to fail and it is only a matter of when, not if.

MMM Case Study
МММ was a Russian company that perpetrated one of the world's largest Ponzi schemes of all time, in the 1990s. By different estimates from 5 to 40 million people lost up to $10 billion. The exact figures are not known even to the founders. In 2011, MMM re-opened as "MMM Global" with up to 110 subsidiaries per country, it became widely popular in various African countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, has said that an ‎estimated three million Nigerians lost N18 billion in the MavrodiMundial Movement, MMM, ponzi scheme.

Over three million Nigerians were participating in MMM (A.K.A. Mugu, Mowo wa, Ma lo) before December 2016 when organizers suspended payment to investors due to its system “experiencing heavy workload.”

By the time the scheme returned in January, few new investors joined and the millions waiting for their payments were left disappointed with majority never paid.

At the 38th Kaduna International Trade Fair on Thursday, Mr. Ibrahim noted that despite repeated warnings by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and other agencies like the anti-graft EFCC, Nigerians still patronized the ponzi scheme.

When you are presented with this type of facts and you still go ahead to invest your money, what would have been the drive if not greed?

Why Ponzi Scheme Victims Are Driven By Greed
Ponzi Scheme like direct sales depends on the ability of members to recruit new investors. While direct sales involves some level of selling, ponzi scheme does not. The idea of just put in your money and 'no work is involved' is what attracted many lazy people to the scheme. If you present the direct sales business opportunity to most of these persons, they will not want to be part of it because it involve some level of hard work.

Direct selling is the marketing and selling of products directly to consumers away from a fixed retail location. ... Modern direct selling includes sales made through the party plan, one-on-one demonstrations, and other personal contact arrangements as well as internet sales. Direct selling consists of two main business models: single-level marketing, in which a direct seller makes money by buying products from a parent organization and selling them directly to customers, and multi-level marketing (also known as network marketing or person-to-person marketing), in which the direct seller may earn money from both direct sales to customers and by sponsoring new direct sellers and potentially earning a commission from their efforts.

I wrote an article Top 10 Factors to Choose a Great Network Marketing Opportunity in Nigeria before. One of the points I raised there to look out for is Does the network marketing company offer products or services that are unique? Ponzi scheme does not have any product to sell hence the scheme is bound to fail. History has taught us from time to time that any investment business that rely only on new investors to survive with products can not stand the test of time. But because many people are looking for the lazy root, they still fall victims of these schemes. That is why, many of the scheme members target their family and friends for recruitment.

Besides, in recent times, I have been receiving a lot of offers from Nigerians who want to design ponzi scheme sites. When I look at these individuals they don't have any direction or purpose, they just want to use the system to siphoned money. Of course my agency does not design any site intended for fraud purpose. So, most of the victims are driven by laziness.

Final Thought
I may be tempted to sympathize with those who are caught unaware due to lack of experience or trust in the referee but I don't feel sorry for the victims because they were driven by greed and laziness. Present them with opportunity they need to work on, they will back off. So, over to you, do you agree with me that Ponzi scheme victims are driven by greed and laziness?

HenryThegreat1:
. bros u are jobless. go find work or u may send ur cv lemme assist u. don't ur mouth to share meat u don't eat. face ur life. imagine a Nigerian calling people greed. nairabet and...... where is ur betting shop.

HenryThegreat1:
. then mind ur useless life.

jetroolowole:
Alright. My message is for unsuspecting potential victims. Hark work and Smart work pays.

jetroolowole:
Alright. My message is for unsuspecting potential victims. Hark work and Smart work pays.

Pierocash:
Op your problem is stingyness and lack of proper orientation on the topic u are writing about.Mutual Aid isn't a Ponzi Scheme as the media make u believe.Mutual Aid can survive evn without new memebers as lond as the old memebers are interested in the scheme,it is sustainable as long as the rules guiding every of the platforms are well tightened.It is a transaction that everybody gain and no loser if the platform is well guided.
It is not laziness like u claim but innovation and financial inteligence born out of high level calculation that u must not sweat to make money but putting ur resources to work for u.if mutual aid is Ponzi,then Co-operative society is also Ponzi

HenryThegreat1:
. Hard work? what do u do for living.

jetroolowole:

It's good you color it mutual aid. Ponzi schemes sometimes commence operations as legitimate investment vehicles, such as hedge funds. For example, a hedge fund can degenerate into a Ponzi scheme if it unexpectedly loses money (or simply fails to legitimately earn the returns promised and/or thought to be expected) and if the promoters, instead of admitting their failure to meet expectations, fabricate false returns and (if necessary) produce fraudulent audit reports.

When a Ponzi scheme is not stopped by the authorities, it sooner or later falls apart for one of the following reasons:
1. The promoter vanishes, taking all the remaining investment money.
2. Since the scheme requires a continual stream of investments to fund higher returns, once investment slows down, the scheme collapses as the promoter starts having problems paying the promised returns (the higher the returns, the greater the risk of the Ponzi scheme collapsing). 3. Such liquidity crises often trigger panics, as more people start asking for their money, similar to a bank run.
External market forces, such as a sharp decline in the economy, cause many investors to withdraw part or all of their funds.

Now comparing it with a co-operative society is wrong. A co-op is "a jointly owned enterprise engaging in the production or distribution of goods or the supplying of services, operated by its members for their mutual benefit, typically organized by consumers or farmers." Cooperative businesses are typically more economically resilient than many other forms of enterprise, with twice the number of co-operatives (80%) surviving their first five years compared with other business ownership models (41%). Cooperatives frequently have social goals which they aim to accomplish by investing a proportion of trading profits back into their communities. As an example of this, in 2013, retail co-operatives in the UK invested 6.9% of their pre-tax profits in the communities in which they trade as compared with 2.4% for other rival supermarkets. In co-op, there is reliable source of income and part of the return is what is used to finance the co-op.

If you check my write-up, I mentioned that History has taught us from time to time that any investment business that rely only on new investors to survive without products can not stand the test of time.

jetroolowole:
Seriously are you asking me what I do? Google my Name.

HenryThegreat1:
. please ur full name. because only jobless looking for front page in nairaland will have time like this to write u don't really know. do u know that mmm Nigeria is still paying?

CellTabRepairs:
You are not far from the truth...

Anyway let them Remember this; It is not enough to earn & carry about a certificate! That's phase 1. Life is about relevance & providing solutions. Someone right now somewhere is looking for someone who can do something for him/her & get paid! Opportunity Meets with preparation! Is your worth only in that paper certificate even though you hardly have a REAL skill? Therefore; EACH DAY , LET YOUR CAPITAL BE YOUR KNOWLEDGE, SKILL & BARE HANDS!

**Click My Name & View That Resource You Need!**
Don't wait in perpetuity for job invitations after applying! March is here already! The thief you harbour is PROCRASTINATION! Therefore don't wait until the whole year runs out!

Great dreamers don't stay idle at home. They take steps!

Apparently, it was inevitable that I'd have more to say about the Mourning Mumu Masses. My friend   Uju Iheanyichukwu Kingsley made it so by tagging me in some post in the subject. 

So here goes.

I watched a wildlife documentary recently- it's amazing how much we can learn from watching animals do their thing, the purity of motive; because they have none except those imposed by nature and encoded as instinct. It is fascinating.

So this snake was moulting- shedding its skin. No hands. No legs. How to do? 

It rubbed itself against a rough tree trunk, creating fiction between the bark and the old skin. Old skin breaks and gets caught on the bark. Slithering Sly simply glides out in sleek new shiny leather. 

It turns out most animals shed skin. Humans included. 

Why is this relevant to the subject of the Mega Mumu Magas? Because what  I'm about to say will create friction, that friction will likely lead to leaving some old skin behind- people who disagree with my viewpoint. And I will applaud their exit from my timeline, wall and life in general. 

So...this is a good place  to stop reading and ask yourself if you want to continue? 
You might want to ignore this one and come back to my wall when I'm speaking to less aggravating and more congenial issues. 

If you do choose to read on, I commend you for doing so. Just take a deep breath...and remember, I offer no apologies for anything I write behind this line.

If you put money into the Mega Money Missroad scheme, you are a greedy lowlife!

If you have borrowed money from people to join the scheme you are a lying,  greedy lowlife!

If you spoke to anyone to convince them to join the scheme, you are a wicked, lying, thieving, conniving greedy lowlife!

If you profess to uphold any sort of faith based ideals as a Christian, Muslim or whatever flavor of religion you subscribe to, especially if you hold functional office or leadership position in any capacity within a faith based congregation and any of the previous  three paragraphs applies to you then you are a hellbound, deconscientized wicked lying thieving conniving greedy lowlife!

If you are one of those ranting and popping off about the reactions of chastisement and berating of all the Mumu Money Mongers who have been caught in the maelstrom now that #WinterIsHere and the #GameOfCoins has turned to #HungerGames...

...if you are one of those saying...

 "leave them alone, mind your business, is it your money? It is the economic situation that led them to it, be compassionate...they are already traumatized....don't rub it in..."

I say to you...get thee behind me you offspring of satan! 

Brood of Vipers you lot! 

Your willingness to compromise the basic principles of decency and truthfulness are everything that is wrong with the world and Nigeria! 
You stand for nothing so everything goes...'the end justifies the means' is your creed.
You two faced, no... multiple faced , hydra tongued sirens are the ones who cheer men and women on to their destruction because you just want to get along and find favor with everyone. Bloody hypocrites! 

You are the ones who rant about corrupt politicians... until Uncle James or Aunty Agnes gets an appointment ...then their sudden wealth becomes 'gods blessing'...and you trot out in your Sunday best for thanksgiving service. 
Everything for you is relative...there are no cardinal principles in your book. I actually fear you lot the most. You would kill a man. That's why the longest paragraph is about you lot.

See...EVERYONE I know and spoke to who got into this  thing KNEW what a pyramid or Ponzi scheme is! I can say this categorically because I made sure they did at the end of that conversation, if they didn't prior to it.....

They KNEW that the scheme does not create ANY value, and that the 30% payout was simply from fresh funds brought in by new recruits...who continued to widen the base of the 'pyramid' .

They KNEW that it would not go on forever because the pyramid would grow so big that at some point that the payouts would not be sustainable for various reasons- 'matching' being one of them- and this would be when the game masters would cash out , leaving whoever was still in the value chain hanging....which would be A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE.

They KNEW that a Pyramid scheme was set up primarily to grow the pyramid large enough to guarantee a huge payday for the puppet master who set it up. They KNEW that the payouts to early adopters was designed to create a facade of genuineness and build credibility; the fuel needed to get more people in...They just DID NOT CARE as long as they hoped to get some of that payout first. 

A little illustration here...who remembers  those parties you'd attend as a kid and the game 'musical chairs'? - more people than chairs dancing to music around a circle made with the chairs. Everyone needed to sit down when the music stopped or they were 'out'. Meaning that since there were fewer chairs than people, some people were sure to be out in every round, and you didn't care who as long as you got a seat. you'd actually push nd shove people , friends and siblings typically to survive the game...remember? Good. That's how a pyramid scheme works.

These plonkers  KNEW that every new recruit they brought in would potentially allow the music go on long enough to cash out, hopefully. SO they went about evangelising...or at the very least dipping into the pool in the hope to get a payout off someone else eventual loss....

They CHOSE to take the risk of loss, on the backs of equally greedy nitwits who wanted in on the game. So effectively, there are no victims, everyone wanted to play someone to get ahead...to make theirs at the expense of whoever was still standing when the music went silent.

Well, the music has gone quiet and they are all in mutually agreeable good company. 

And people are asking for empathy!!! For who??!! 

Copied and on point