A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays profits to earlier investors using money collected from newer investors, rather than from actual business or market profits.
The crashes of the scheme, have left many families stranded regarding school fees, house rents, and business capital.
According to the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Nigerians have lost approximately N911.45 billion to various Ponzi schemes over the past 23 years.
All the schemes have common features including: Guarantees of high daily or monthly percentages with little to no market risk.
They also require participants to recruit new members or perform simple online engagements (such as listening to audio or clicking links) to unlock payouts.
And when they make required numbers, websites and other channels will go offline.
WhatsApp or Telegram channels are also deleted or locked, and customer support go silent.
In general terms, they lack of real underlying products or services.
For instance, PXES which closed shops in September, operated without any verified authorization from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer investment or financial services.
And like previous schemes, the PXES NG platform suddenly went dark, blocked its WhatsApp channels, and left participants stranded after its website (https://www.pxesng.com/) became inaccessible. Investors later stormed physical offices demanding refunds.
And in May 2026, XM Future Music Group, which promised returns for listening to music and completing online tasks with entry packages from N21,600 to millions of naira also collasped.
After withdrawals halted, victims raided its Badagry, Lagos office and carted away equipment like generators and fans.
Elsewhere, National Reading Culture (NRC), an online platform that convinced thousands of Nigerians to part with their money on the promise that they would earn extraordinary returns within a matter of weeks.
Predictably, the website went dark, leaving billions of Naira in losses and countless investors wondering how they were deceived.
In Cross River State, TAG Investment Platform, also reportedly collapsed after operating for only three weeks in Calabar, the capital.
Again, billions went down the drains.
On October 2025, EMAAR, attracted over 4,000 investors via Telegram with promises of real estate returns.
It collapsed on October 27, 2025, accounting for nearly N3 billion in estimated losses.
Another case was CBEX, a digital asset trading platform that folded, trapping user funds and adding to a long line of recurring online investment failures.
CBEX lured victims with a 100 percent return on investment within 30 days.
And just as it started, it suddenly suspended withdrawals and reset account balances to zero, wiping out an estimated N1.3 trillion from over 600,000 Nigerian investors.
