From MMM in 2016 to X Music in 2026, Nigerians have lost ₦4.8 trillion to date to investment scams. The evolution of investment scams in Nigeria reflects a wave of adaptation, innovation, and exploitation of people’s trust in public information. Though the names, sectors, and technologies behind these schemes have continuously changed over time, the underlying promise has remained remarkably consistent: high returns within a short period and with little to no risk.
In their earlier forms, investment scams relied heavily on physical networks and interpersonal trust between people. Schemes such as MMM gained momentum through community meetings, religious gatherings, and referral systems. They presented themselves not as fraudulent ventures at the start but as social support networks where members helped one another to make a reasonable income. The success of these schemes was largely driven by word-of-mouth endorsements from trusted individuals, including friends, family members, and religious leaders. Social trust was weaponised to legitimise fraudulent financial platforms.
As public awareness of Ponzi schemes increased, fraudsters began to rebrand their operations. Rather than presenting themselves as usual aid platforms, they adopted the appearance of legitimate businesses. They increasingly claimed involvement in sectors such as gold trading, foreign exchange markets, agriculture, transportation, and asset management. Platforms such as Swiss Golden, MBA Forex, Quintessential Investment, Chinmark Group, and Green Eagles Agribiz used professional branding, corporate offices, sketchy registration documents, and top-notch marketing campaigns to project credibility. Friends and family no longer need to be persuaded; the evidence of believability was in the packaging, and the projection now convinces victims of legitimacy.
Another significant shift was the migration from physical recruitment to digital mobilisation. Fraudsters no longer need extensive physical networks to recruit victims; the scale of disruption of digital technology has been good for business. Investment scams now exploit social media and algorithms that cross geographical boundaries. Social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Instagram have become powerful tools for expanding these schemes. Fraudsters can now reach thousands of potential victims at low cost while creating an illusion of success through testimonials, screenshots of payouts, and carefully curated success stories.
Scammers also exploit prevailing economic trends to take advantage of people; things like agricultural crowdfunding and forex trading schemes are a reflection of prevailing economic trends where these sectors have gained visibility as potential areas for growth. As public interest in agribusiness and foreign exchange trading has grown, fraudulent operators have incorporated these sectors into their narratives. By associating their schemes with productive economic activities, they create a perception that investors’ funds were being deployed in legitimate ventures
Cryptocurrency has become the preferred dog whistle for many investment scams. Unlike earlier schemes that relied on known explanations, crypto-related frauds leverage technical complexity with concepts such as blockchain, cloud mining, digital assets, automated trading, and artificial intelligence, creating an aura of sophistication that makes it difficult for ordinary investors to verify claims. Platforms such as Bitclub Advantage, Digitrades, and CBEX capitalised on the knowledge gap around crypto, promising extraordinary returns with short turnaround.
Another new trend is the increasing internationalisation of investment scams. Contemporary schemes often claim affiliations with foreign companies, global financial institutions, or overseas investment opportunities. This strategy exploits the perception that international organisations are more credible and technologically advanced. Often these foreign partnerships never existed, and as with all scams, leave victims with huge losses.
The progression of investment scams typifies a shift from trust in people to trust in institutions, and ultimately trust in technology. Earlier schemes depended on community influence and personal relationships. Later schemes relied on corporate branding and professional appearances that are scaled by the speed of social media. Today’s scams increasingly rely on complex technologies, digital platforms, and global narratives to attract victims.
Is Financial Illiteracy Enabling Investment Scams in Nigeria?
According to a Central Bank of Nigeria report, only 38 per cent of Nigerians are financially literate. A significant proportion of the population is financially illiterate, lacking the knowledge and skills needed to make informed financial decisions, assess investment risks, and identify fraudulent schemes. In today’s digital age, this vulnerability is further amplified by the rapid expansion of social media and digital platforms, which have transformed how investment scams are created, promoted, and sustained. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, TikTok, and X have made fraudulent investment opportunities more visible through sponsored advertisements, viral posts, influencer endorsements, and algorithm-driven content recommendations.
These platforms create an illusion of credibility by showcasing fabricated testimonials, manipulated profit screenshots, fake customer reviews, and coordinated engagement from fraudulent accounts. As a result, investment scams appear more legitimate and trustworthy, making it increasingly difficult for individuals with limited financial literacy to distinguish genuine investment opportunities from fraudulent schemes. Unfortunately, these scams gain momentum before regulatory agencies or fact-checkers can intervene.
Financial illiteracy is no longer merely a personal knowledge deficit but a critical vulnerability that scammers actively exploit through sophisticated digital communication strategies.
Oluwadamilare Oladele, FCIB, a Managing Director at QuickCheck, with extensive expertise in compliance and risk management within the financial services industry, emphasised the importance of expanding financial inclusion alongside financial education. According to him, economic resilience extends beyond access to financial services; it requires Nigerians to possess the knowledge and skills necessary to save effectively, invest prudently, protect themselves from fraud, and make informed financial decisions. In an era where digital platforms can rapidly amplify fraudulent investment schemes, this combination of financial and information literacy becomes even more critical. Equipping citizens with the capacity to critically evaluate online investment information can significantly reduce susceptibility to scams and promote safer participation in legitimate financial markets.
Information Illiteracy is now as Big a Culprit as Financial Illiteracy
Every non-premium YouTube subscriber has encountered messages like this: “Bill Gates knows a secret you don’t, and I want to share that secret with you today”! Multiple streams of income is the only way to become a billionaire…….” Usually, it’s an AI-generated video, and the ad is more often than not some kind of scam.
While financial literacy equips people with the knowledge to evaluate investment opportunities and manage financial risk, it is no longer sufficient on its own. Investment scams now rely on information manipulation as much as they rely on unrealistic financial promises.
Social media, messaging platforms and now AI-generated content have made it easier to create convincing investment narratives at scale. Fake testimonials, cloned profiles, coordinated bot activity, manipulated screenshots and AI-generated promotional content can all make fraudulent schemes appear legitimate. In this environment, recognising misinformation has become just as important as understanding investment risk.
Financial literacy helps people assess an investment. Information literacy helps them assess the information surrounding it. As investment scams become increasingly sophisticated, the ability to distinguish credible information from manipulated content is now an essential line of defence.
Is Big Tech Complicit?
Social media platforms have become central to how investment scams are discovered, promoted and shared. Their recommendation systems can rapidly increase the visibility of fraudulent investment schemes through sponsored adverts, influencer content, recommendation algorithms and user sharing, allowing scams to reach far larger audiences than traditional word-of-mouth recruitment ever could.
While platforms have introduced policies to detect fraudulent advertisements, remove harmful content and suspend fake accounts, enforcement remains inconsistent. Investment scams often spread widely before they are detected and removed, particularly when they rely on coordinated networks of accounts, private messaging groups or rapidly changing promotional content.
Recognising this growing threat, companies including Meta, Google and OpenAI have signed industry commitments to combat online fraud and scams. However, as investment scams continue to adapt to new technologies and platform features, improving detection, enforcement and user protection remains an ongoing challenge.
Beyond the commitments, the platforms’ business models and profitability rely on engagement, which is what these scam adverts generate. Whether current interventions are sufficient depends not only on moderation capacity but on whether engagement-driven recommendation systems continue to reward the very content scammers exploit. For these big social media platforms, how does profit measure up against the consequences, and which side would their algorithms choose if they could take sides?
