It’s a simple principle and something oft repeated, but the greed of the human is simply too ingrained to overcome sometimes – there is no free lunch at Buckingham Palace and if something seems too good to be true, it’s probably because it is too good to be true.
But these ponzi schemes get people all the time looking for a quick buck – we all remember DKM, don’t we?
One known as MMM has set up operations in Ghana recently, Quartz reports.
The scheme, Marvodi Mondial Movement (MMM), described as a ‘mutual aid fund’ – promises customers who buy in a full refund of their capital plus 30% interest.
That high return rate gets people everytime, and they thus decide to invest heavily. Similar schemes are already running in the country but with the kind of returns they promise, they are simply not sustainable.
Quartz summarises the problem with MMM and their failed operations in many African countries thus:

A week after suspending operations in Nigeria, the scheme which describes itself as a “mutual aid fund” has started operations in Ghana, Nigeria’s West African neighbors.
Registered participants pledge and donate money to other participants they get paired with. This donation is regarded as “providing help” (PH). After a month, donors are promised a reimbursement of the full amount donated plus a 30% interest. In a reversal of the initial process, donors can “get help” (GH) after being paired with other participants who pay them their initial cash plus interest.
At the time of suspending operations, MMM had garnered more than 2.4 million Nigerian participants despite repeated warnings from government authorities.
If Ghanaians need some insight into the life-cycle of MMM, they can look at its operations elsewhere. Before freezing its Nigeria operation, MMM had employed a similar model in other African countries.
In South Africa, the scheme collapsed and was forced to start over after what it described as “persecution” by the media. Like in Nigeria where it blamed its collapse on “the constant frenzy provoked by the authorities in the mass media”, MMM claims any warnings by government authorities about its questionable operations are a ploy to sabotage the success of the scheme.
In Zimbabwe, MMM participants were worse off as the scheme slashed withdrawal exchange rates after it temporarily shut down operations. Per the new rates, participants ended up losing 80% of their money. The scheme still operates in Kenya, where it promises a 40% monthly interest rate, but it’s also been subject to warnings of the country’s central bank.