The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned members of the public not to deal with FinAfrica Investment Limited owned by Marksman Chinedu Ijiomah and Poyoyo Investment (Pilvest) Nigeria Limited.

Marksman Chinedu ijiomah, the Chairman/President of Chinmark, under which one of its subsidiaries (FINAFRICA INVESTMENT LIMITED) operates an investment scheme, uses the power of his huge Facebook followership of over 300,000 to advertise his companies and activities, as shown in a cursory look at his social media wall.

SEC in a public statement published on it’s website stated that the company operating the fake investment scheme is not registered and that the investment scheme promoted by the entities are also not authorized.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria (“SEC”) has been drawn to the activities of an Illegal Operator (FINAFRICA INVESTMENT LIMITED).

“The Company claimed to be an Investment Company that engages in Business Development in Commercial sectors of the economy and uses the funds in entities under Chimark Group.

“The Commission hereby notifies the investing public that neither FINAFRICA INVESTMENT LIMITED nor Chimark Group is registered by the SEC and the Investment Scheme promoted by these entities are also not authorized by the SEC.

“In view of the above, the general public is hereby WARNED that any person dealing with the within named Company in any capital market related business is doing so at his/her own risk”.

In the same vein, SEC described the business of Poyoyo Investment (Pilvest) Nigeria Limited as a “Ponzi scheme”, where returns are paid from other people’s invested sums.

The commission said its attention had been drawn to the electronic and WhatsApp messages being circulated to investors on behalf of Poyoyo Investment (Pilvest) Nigeria Limited.

In one of the messages, Pilvest said it offers a 20% return on investment (ROI) on a minimum capital of N100,000 invested for a period of one a month.

“The Commission hereby notifies the investing public that Poyoyo Investment (PILVEST) Nigeria Limited have no tangible business model; hence it is a PONZI SCHEME where returns are paid from other people’s invested sum. Also, its operation is not registered by the Commission,” the circular reads.