Several Nigerians have reportedly lost over N1 billion to another company that operated a ponzi scheme, Swiss Golden Company Limited.
This is coming shortly after MMM announced the complete shut down of its scheme, following the death of its founder.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which busted the latest ponzi scheme, said over 7,000 Nigerians were defrauded.
The spokesman of the Kano Zonal Office of the EFCC, Idris Isyaku, confirmed this in a statement, saying over N200 million has been recovered.
Isyaku said in the statement: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered N216,402,565.05 from Swiss Golden Company Limited, an online investment that purportedly deals with buying and selling of gold bars.
“The recovery was sequel to a petition the commission received from thousands of complainants who alleged that they invested in Swiss Golden Company Limited, which was advertised as an online investment that deals in buying and selling of gold bars.
“The petitioners further alleged that after investing over a billion Naira into the business, Swiss Golden refused to pay them any dividend or pay them back their capital.
“Upon receipt of the petition, the commission swung into action by first inviting the petitioners where they volunteered statements. Through intelligence, the commission picked up one Maxim Lobaty, a Russian and two Nigerians, Austin Emenike and Dickson Nonso Onuchukwu, in Lagos.
“The trio were, subsequently, conveyed to the Kano operational zone of the EFCC for further investigation.
“Swiss Golden, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, was discovered through investigation to be a Ponzi Scheme designed to defraud innocent victims of their hard earned money.
“After being drilled at the commission’s Kano zonal office, Maxim and his co-suspects consented to the refund of the investment. It is through that, a total of N216,402,565.05 have now been recovered.
“Investigation into the alleged fraud is still on going and all efforts are being made to recover the money involved and the alleged suspects brought to justice.”