The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sounded a note of warning to Nigerians not to invest in “Loom Money Nigeria’’.
Acting Director-General of the commission, Ms Mary Uduk gave the warning at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja.
She said “We are aware of the activities of an online investment scheme tagged ‘Loom Money Nigeria’.
“The platform has embarked on an aggressive online media campaign on Facebook and whatsapp.
“They lure the investing public to participate by joining various Loom whatsapp groups to invest as low as N1, 000 and N13, 000 and get as much as eight times the value of the investment in 48 hours.
“Unlike MMM that had a website and the promoter known, the people promoting Loom are not yet known and this pyramid scheme operates through closed groups mainly on Facebook and Whatsapp.
“If it were a local Ponzi scheme with known offices, it would be very easy for the Commission to seal their offices and freeze their accounts.
“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 people’s invested sum.
“Also, its operation is not registered by the Commission,” she said.
Nigerians had a very unsavoury experience with a similar scheme MMM which left many in debt as the operators of the Ponzi Scheme absconded with the money of its investors, readers are thus advised to give this network a wide berth.