Keep off MMM, Bitcoin, others – NDIC reiterates warning

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has warned Nigerians against investing their money in online and block-chain currencies schemes.

Its Managing Director, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, gave the warning at a special day of the corporation at the ongoing 2007 Enugu International Trade Fair on Thursday.

Umaru, who was represented by Mr Nicolas Ibrahim, the NDIC Controller at Enugu Zonal Office, said that the warning became necessary to save investments and money of Nigerians.

“I wish to draw attention to emergence of the various Ponzi schemes, popularly called Mavrodi Mundial Movement (MMM) and other forms of digital and block-chain currencies.

“These Ponzi schemes also came in form of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ripples, Montero, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Onecoin for medium of exchange and web-based transactions which are neither authorised by the CBN nor insured by the NDIC,’’ he said.

Umaru also warned members of the public against activities of some co-operative societies that had gone beyond their primary mandate of accepting contributions from their members.

“I wish to emphasise that cooperative societies are established to mobilise savings from their members only.

“I, therefore, call on non-members not to patronise them as they are neither licensed as deposit-taking financial institutions nor insured by the NDIC,’’ he said.

The President of ECCIMA, Rev. Ugochukwu Chime, described the role of NDIC as significant in the protection of depositors’ fund with banks and other financial institutions.

Chime said that NDIC remained a great back-up for Nigerian banking public who had lost their deposits whenever crisis occurred in the financial system.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the ongoing trade fair is “Promoting Nigeria’s Industrial Sector and SMEs for Inclusive and Robust Economy“ will end on April 10.