My Money Mistake is a weekly PiggyVest series that explores the worst money mistakes real Nigerians have made, and the lessons they learnt from it.

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For this week’s episode of My Money Mistake, we spoke to a cook who invested her sister’s money in a ponzi scheme. She tells us about how it happened and how it landed her in a police cell for over a week.

Could you tell me about your money mistake?

A while back, my sister reached out to me for help in keeping some money. Her son had just gained admission to university, and she wanted to ensure she had some money set aside that she could access whenever she needed.

How much was that?

₦150k 

So, what happened? 

During that period, one of my friends called to talk about an investment she wanted me to join, promising to double my money in 45 minutes. I’m a single mother, and at the time, my daughter was preparing to take her common entrance exams, but I couldn’t afford her registration. My plan was to invest the money and use the interest to cover the exam fees.

My friend sent the account number of the company, and I transferred ₦50k to it. After 45 minutes passed and I hadn’t received any returns, I called my friend to complain. She explained that the ₦50k tier had sold out for the day, and I could only participate in the ₦100k tier. Trusting her, I sent another ₦50k.

After waiting for another 45 minutes, I still hadn’t received the money or the interest. She gave the same response again and asked that I add another ₦25k. I kept sending till I’d sent ₦145k of the money I had. But I still didn’t receive a dime back.

What did you do??

I called her to complain. She apologised and claimed she didn’t know she was dealing with scammers and that she had also fallen victim to their scam.

When they kept asking you for money, did you suspect they might be scammers?

Honestly, I didn’t consider that possibility because I trusted her. We’ve been friends since secondary school, so I never thought she would involve me in a scam like this. Also, since I had already sent the initial ₦50k, I didn’t see a problem with sending more, hoping I would receive even more interest eventually.

Do you think your friend was in on the scam too?

I don’t even doubt it because she’s the one that kept encouraging me to send them more money. I was really upset with her, and we are still not on good terms.

How about your sister’s money?

She had me arrested because of it. I can’t even blame her; she’s a widow struggling to support her kids. I spent about 9 days in jail. While I was there, the DPO was moved by my story and released me on bail for free and even provided the money for my daughter’s school fees.

I involved some family members and pleaded with my sister for some more time to work, earn money, and repay her. It got so bad that I considered taking my own life because losing the money for personal needs wouldn’t have bothered me as much, but losing everything to scammers broke me.

Have you completed the repayment now? 

No, it’s been over a year, and I still have ₦80k left to repay. I’ve struggled to find a job. I was earning ₦10k per month, and after monthly expenses, there was very little left.

I currently earn ₦20k per month, with monthly expenses of about ₦13,500. My church members help with my daughter’s school fees, and I use the amount left to feed myself and my daughter. I’m hoping to secure a higher paying job, so I can complete the repayment.