Published 12th Mar, 2025

By Akinjide Adebowale

On Tuesday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) named 58 Ponzi schemes that have crashed numerous Nigerians into multimillion-naira debts, many of which FIJ has been reporting about since 2021.

The EFCC said all of the listed companies were “neither registered with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, nor the Security Exchange Commission”.

While the claim of the EFCC that these fraudulent companies are not registered with the SEC and CBN cannot all be readily verified, some of them have been aided by government agencies.

Starting with Sam Afolabi, the Chief Executive Officer of agritech company EatRich, who absconded with investors’ millions and took an N88 million loan with employees’ Sterling Bank accounts.

Area F, Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, arrested and detained six old staff members and investors of Afolabi’s EatRich in 2021 for daring to demand their N1 billion arrears.

In November, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) allowed an unknown Crevance Credit to deduct money from the salary of a civil servant. The loan company was approved by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and it was also registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. But when FIJ went looking for the company, it did not exist.

‘WHY CAN’T EFCC NAME THEIR OWNERS?’

Comments under the EFCC’s posts stated that some of these scam schemes, which the EFCC has just come to acknowledge as truly fraudulent, have been reported to them many times but they did nothing.

In November, for instance, FIJ reported about Anyanso Mma, the owner of TheMap, a company that has swindled investors of their money. TheMap took a mother and daughter’s N6.1 million but refused to pay their RoI.

The victim said she and some other investors reported Mma to the EFCC but they freed him without any explanations.

When FIJ contacted the commission before publishing the story, the EFCC responded that they were not aware of the case.

Some of the comments also asked why the anti-graft agency did not release the names of the owners of the Ponzi scheme companies.

Unlike the EFCC, most of FIJ’s reports not only reveal the identities of the owners of these Ponzi schemes but their pictures are also attached.

Some of the comments also condemn the haphazard way the names of the companies are listed.

Again, unlike the EFCC, FIJ has a detailed list of these scammers, the number of people they have scammed and the amount they swindled from their victims who testified. The last updated list can be found in this scam directory.

OVAIOZA — A MASTER OF EMOTIONAL APPEAL WHO CARTED INVESTORS’ BILLIONS

Call her a farmer who fattened her chicken in preparation for Christmas and you won’t be wrong. Ovaioza strategically presented herself as a ‘preacher of love’.

She trapped many Nigerians in her fraudulent game by constantly preaching about love, kindness and other moral values.

Ovaioza released a gospel song in 2017 titled ‘Holy Are You Lord’ under the stage name ‘Ovai4Jesus’. Five years later, her actions no longer reflected her name.

Many of her followers described her as a philanthropist because she was always doing giveaways. In fact, she gave out cars to people in the past.

Years later, Ovai4Jesus became ‘Facebook Yahoo Girl’ after she made people invest in her business and carted away those millions.

Some other social media influencers also benefited from the scam.

JOSEPH ADEIYE’S WESTAGRO LIMITED

Olutimilehin Akinbode, one of the victims of Adeiye’s farm scheme, said he knew the company’s physical address, which was one of the assurances he got.

Like most investment schemes, Akinbode invested N500,000 in the company’s fish and vegetable farming investments between 2020 and 2021. The company promised to pay him a Return on Investment every six months for three years. He claimed the investments should earn him a combined N1 million on each investment.

After a few months without his RoI, Akinbode requested a refund. The company paid some amount but they failed to pay the rest.

UYI OSAYIMWENSE AND OSAYI OSAZUWA

For these two, they totally vanished in an unexpected fashion. Theirs too, like WestAgro, was an agritech investment named FarmForte AgroPartnership.

What they used to entice their investors were their huge RoI. For instance, this man FIJ reported about this man who was promised to receive two payouts and then his N2.25 million capital as the final payout.

When it was time to start paying, they claimed they were moving to another payment platform.

The last they were seen was when they sent an apology in a social media video. After then, radio silence.

OXFORDGOLD

The only name FIJ can directly link to OxfordGold is Benjamin Sarumi, the company’s head of corporate communication.

Apart from having an agribusiness investment scheme, they also have a real estate scheme.

While some clients lost money to the agricultural investment, some lost to real estate, and others lost on both endeavours. Some of FIJ’s reports on the OxfordGold scheme can be found here, here and here.

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