SEC Urges Young People To Avoid Ponzi Schemes

As the campaign to create awareness among the youths and further attract them to the capital market gathers momentum, young Nigerians have been urged to ensure they invest with entities that are registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Director, Market Development Department of the Commission, Nestor Ikeagu stated this during the celebration of the Global Money Week 2023 enlightenment campaign in Gwagwalada, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.

Global Money Week (GMW) is an annual global awareness-raising campaign on the importance of ensuring that young people from an early age are financially aware, and are gradually acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial well-being and financial resilience.

The SEC director said that the official theme for Global Money Week 2023 is “Plan your money, plant your future”, adding that this year, GMW focuses on sustainability and raising awareness on the implications of individual financial behavior not only on one’s financial future but also on the environment and the society.

Ikeagu stated that there are various products available in the capital market that could appeal to the youths and urged them to plan, save and invest in the capital market.

He said, “It is also important to educate these young minds that as they plant their future, they should be mindful of some fraudulent activities such as “Ponzi scheme”, that can mar the growth of their financial future.

“A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. It is a fraudulent investing scam that generates returns for earlier investors with money taken from later investors. It involves paying existing investors in a non-existing enterprise with the funds collected from new investors.”

Ikeagu added that there is a list of registered fund managers on the website of the SEC and urged members of the public to always cross-check that entities are registered for the products they are offering to the public.