{"id":109899,"date":"2016-01-25T15:02:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T13:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=109899"},"modified":"2016-01-25T15:24:23","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T13:24:23","slug":"russian-ponzi-scheme-raises-fraud-flags-at-sa-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/109899\/russian-ponzi-scheme-raises-fraud-flags-at-sa-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian ‘Ponzi scheme’ raises fraud flags at SA bank"},"content":{"rendered":"

A controversial high yield investment program (HYIP) is raising red flags at a South African bank.<\/p>\n

Capitec clients\u00a0who are linked to MMM South Africa have reported that their\u00a0accounts are being frozen, causing a backlash on social media.<\/p>\n

MMM was started by convicted Russian fraudster<\/a>, Sergey Mavrodi, who was found guilty of running one of Russia’s biggest pyramid schemes in the 1990s, in which millions of people lost their life savings.<\/p>\n

The exact same scheme is now running\u00a0locally,\u00a0trading as MMM South Africa,<\/p>\n

In September 2015, MMM South Africa was listed as one of the potential pyramid schemes under investigation by the National Consumer Commission in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The group’s hook is the promise of high returns on investments – as much as 30% per month – along with “testimonials” from clients who claim to have achieved great success with the scheme.<\/p>\n

Here is a testimonial from an “MMM captain”, who claims to have received R1 million after a R10,000 payment through the scheme.<\/p>\n