The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has described ponzi schemes as “cancer” bedeviling effective operations of the capital market.

The Director-General of SEC, Lamido Yuguda, said this at a post Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting press conference in Abuja on Friday.

Mr Yuguda said the commission had been fighting a serious war against Ponzi schemes where people without licenses extort money from unsuspected victims.

He said that the Commission had been working with other agencies to reduce access of ponzi schemes to advertising platforms.

“We have been saying that people should only deal with registered operators that have the registration of the Commission.

“You must confirm that an operator is licensed with the Commission before you patronise them.

“We have done a lot of sensitisation to discourage people from patronising ponzi schemes but unfortunately, a lot of people still patronise them.

“We have cases reported to us and our enforcement and police unit have been working on many of these cases trying to resolve issues of investment that have been lost.

“It is not really difficult to recognise a ponzi scheme. When a return is too good to be true, desist from it,” he said.

He said that the Commission was collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to fight money laundering and ponzi schemes.

Mr Yuguda said the Commission would continue to enlighten the public to desist from patronising ponzi schemes.

The director-general said that the 2021-2025 revised Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) would be launched at the next CMC meeting in November.

He said the revised CMMP would help the market to meet up with current and relevant trends. 

(NAN)