Spotting Ponzi schemes: lessons from CBEX
How 'double your money' schemes work, why they collapse, and how to check a company before you invest.
In the app: 2 lessons · 1 quick check
For educational purposes only. This is not financial advice.
Key points
1. How a Ponzi scheme works
- A Ponzi scheme pays early members with money from new members, not from real profit. It works only while new money keeps coming in — when it slows, withdrawals stop and most…
For educational purposes only. This is not financial advice.
2. Check before you invest
- Guaranteed high returns in days or weeks — no real business can promise that.
- You must recruit people to earn or to withdraw.
- Withdrawals that get delayed, capped or 'upgraded'.
- A big name or 'AI' and 'crypto' words, but no clear way the money is made.
Under the Investments and Securities Act 2025, Ponzi promoters can face up to 10 years in prison. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
The full lesson is in the Kopkad app
Worked examples in naira, quick checks to test yourself, and the step-by-step guide to doing it, free with your account.
Read more elsewhere
- Official website: investor alerts and registered operatorsSecurities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria
- Ponzi schemeWikipedia
- Pyramid schemeWikipedia
- Official websiteCentral Bank of Nigeria
External sites, not run by Kopkad.
Full lesson + tools in the Kopkad app
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