Johannesburg - Experts believe MMM South Africa is a ponzi scheme which will inevitably collapse, because it relies on membership to stay afloat. The Russian-created scheme is a scam and people who recruit their friends are putting them at risk, they say.
But those who have benefited from the pyramid-style investment beg to differ. Vongani Hobyane, an accountant from Sandton, joined MMM eight months ago and said he cashed in R79 000 recently.
“I invested R10 000 a few months ago. After cashing in, I reinvested R50 000 and will get about R90 000 in two months.
“He said people are desperate and will go to any lengths to get extra cash. But his advice to would-be investors was: “Don't put your last money in MMM as a last resort for quick cash.”
Hobyane has recruited two of his friends, who also work in the finance industry.
He said “negative media coverage” would affect the scheme, because people would now want to cash in their money while waiting for the heat to cool off.
Hobyane posted his story on the I love Sandton Facebook page this week, stating: “I can safely say that we will succeed and nothing will deter us. (MMM) is a self-help community and no government or banking institution can stop us.”
Most members of the public Facebook group lambasted him for his posting.
Bronwyn Ho said: “Easy come, easy go. There is no such thing as a fast buck. I wish you luck, you might as well put your money in a machine at Monte Casino.”
Another MMM member from Krugersdorp, Steward Thobega, said: “When did you ever read about a person who said they have been scammed by MMM? MMM is not a scam, but rather a gamble...
“People go to casinos to gamble and lose everything, are they scammed?”
An investigation into whether MMM was breaching any laws has become a priority for the Hawks.
MMM was founded by convicted Russian criminal Sergei Mavrodi in 1989.
Mavrodi served a 4-year jail term in 2007 for defrauding 10 000 investors out of 110-million rouble (worth R61m at the time), according to The Moscow Times.
In 2011, he reappeared plugging MMM-2011, which has a similar business model to MMM South Africa.
Saturday Star