As more Nigerians continue to fall prey to the activities of illegal fund managers across the country, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it is prepared to go harder on those behind these illegal schemes.
Ms Mary Uduk, who acts as SEC’s Director-General, stated this over the weekend according to a statement signed by SEC’s Head of Corporate Communications as seen on Daily Trust.
According to Uduk, SEC believes that it’s high time it did more than merely educate people on the risks of “investing” in these illegal financial schemes. The capital market regulator will now take a more drastic action towards ensuring that those promoting these Ponzi schemes are brought to justice.
She went further to disclose that some people have already been arrested in regards to this and are currently being prosecuted.
“We are stepping up our enforcement mechanisms to ensure that they are apprehended and their offices sealed off. So many of them are being prosecuted in courts, we have secured convictions for some, and we have closed down so many.
“We verify ownership and return monies collected by them to the owners. It’s a problem around the world and we can tackle the problem by educating the public, telling them the right investments to make and the right places to put in their money.”
[READ MORE: SEC outlines derivatives market as major plan for 2020)
Some backstories: Recall that in February 2019, SEC shut down Dantata Success & Profitable Company in Kano metropolis, after confirming that the outfit was nothing but an elaborate Ponzi scheme. That same month, the capital market regulator sealed off another company whose activities contravened the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007.
SEC then ended 2019 by shutting down five more Ponzi scheme outfits namely: MGB Global, Bitcoin Company, Money Rite, No Failure Development, and X-World.
In the meantime, Mary Uduk has advised Nigerians to desist from rushing after get-rich-quick-schemes, especially if the products offered by the promoters are not registered with SEC. She also stressed that no legitimate investment plan can guarantee a 50% return, at least not within two hours as it is often promised by these fraudsters promoting these Ponzi schemes.
“When people come to you and say that you can invest 50,000 naira today and in 2 hours you will get 200,000 naira tomorrow or get 50% in 2 hours know that it is a lie. No legal investment that pays investment that way.
“So what they must likely be doing is using your money to pay someone else and using someone’s money to pay you. It is important that we don’t engage in such investments.”
To find out more about why Nigerians keep falling prey to ponzi schemes, click here.
