As the Mavrodi Mondial Movement, MMM, plans to resume tomorrow, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Thursday, warned the general public against investing in crypto currencies, such as Swisscoin, OneCoin, Bitcoin and such other virtual or digital currencies.
It would be recalled that MMM had last week introduced Bitcoin, said to be the world’s best performing currency in 2016, as part of its mode of payment in its comeback plans.
However, the SEC has advised the public to exercise extreme caution with regard to digital (crypto currencies) as a vehicle of investments.
The commission stressed that none of the persons, companies or entities promoting crypto currencies had been recognised or authorised by it or by other regulatory agencies in Nigeria to receive deposits from the public or to provide any investment or other financial services in or from Nigeria.
“The public should also be aware that any investment opportunities promoted by these persons, companies or entities are likely to be of a risky nature with a high risk of loss of money, while others may be outright fraudulent pyramid schemes,” the regulator noted.
According to a statement by SEC on its website added that, “Given that these instruments and the persons, companies or entities that promote them have neither been authorised, nor any guidelines/regulations developed for them by any of the regulatory authorities in Nigeria, there is no protection available to users or investors in these virtual currencies from financial losses if the virtual currencies fail or the companies promoting them go out of business.
“The public and consumers of financial services are further advised that before making any investment or entering into any financial services transaction they should ascertain that the entity with whom the investment or transaction is being made is authorised by the commission or other financial services regulatory authority as applicable to provide such services.”
The fraudsters, SEC said, carried out their illegitimate business via Nigeria.mmm.netportal/platform, and were promising investors a monthly investment return of 30 per cent.
“Please note that anyone that subscribes to this illegal activity does so at their own risk”, it added.
