Over three million Nigerians have lost about N18bn through Ponzi schemes, the Securities and Exchange Commission stated on Tuesday.

Director-General, SEC, Lamido Yuguda, said this during a webinar organised by the commission.

Ponzi schemes are fraudulent investing scams which generate returns for early investors with money taken from later investors.

They are similar to pyramid schemes in that both are based on using new investors’ funds to pay the earlier backers.

Speaking at the webinar, Yuguda said, “Ponzi schemes operate with unsustainable operating models that ultimately lead to huge losses for investors.

“Following the collapse of the MMM Ponzi scheme, the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation had estimated that over three million Nigerians lost about N18bn.”