Toba Owojaiye reporting
Abuja, Nigeria
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has confirmed the recovery of funds from the fraudulent cryptocurrency trading platform, Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), which scammed numerous Nigerians under the guise of digital investments.
Truth Live News gathered that Olukoyede disclosed that the EFCC had made arrests in connection to the CBEX scheme and has made considerable progress in tracking the digital financial crime that caused widespread financial loss to unsuspecting investors. “We have gone far with CBEX. We have been able to recover a reasonable amount of money,” he said.
The CBEX platform, now under investigation, lured users with promises of high returns on crypto-based investments. However, according to the EFCC, it operated without regulatory oversight and manipulated the trust of ordinary citizens seeking quick wealth amid Nigeria’s harsh economic realities.
Olukoyede explained that although the stolen funds were initially in cryptocurrency, which complicates recovery efforts due to its anonymous and decentralized nature, the commission was able to trace and block some of the crypto wallets before the funds were completely laundered. “Even though in the crypto wallet, the same way the money was taken from them. There is no way you will get them in dollars. There is no way you get the dollars in cash without necessarily going through the same process,” he noted.
He added that the commission had also identified some wallets linked to the fraud in countries like Cambodia and across Eastern Europe—regions that have recently become hotspots for cross-border financial crimes involving crypto assets. Some of these wallets, he said, have been frozen.
However, the EFCC Chairman cautioned that recovery remains a complex task due to the use of non-custodial wallets—digital wallets that do not require user identity verification, making them nearly impossible to trace. “The wallets they created are called noncustodian wallets; in other words, no KYC. So, you can’t trace it to anybody,” he explained.
Despite these challenges, Olukoyede assured the public that arrests had been made and that the commission was still pursuing other suspects, some of whom have been declared wanted. “We are not going to give out much because we don’t want the process to be disrupted. We are still after quite a number of people,” he stated.
He also expressed concern that even with ongoing investigations, some Nigerians were still falling for similar schemes, underlining the need for greater public awareness and due diligence when engaging in cryptocurrency investments.
The CBEX fraud adds to a growing list of crypto-related scams in Nigeria, where digital assets have seen a boom in popularity, particularly among youths and small investors seeking alternatives to the unstable naira. In recent years, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued warnings against unregulated crypto operations, even banning financial institutions from dealing directly in cryptocurrencies. Despite this, the allure of high returns continues to make Nigerians vulnerable to such schemes.
This development also underscores the EFCC’s expanding focus on cybercrime and virtual assets, in line with global trends where law enforcement agencies are increasingly called to respond to blockchain-related fraud.
As the EFCC intensifies its crackdown, financial experts urge investors to exercise caution, verify platforms through regulatory bodies, and avoid deals that seem too good to be true. The ongoing CBEX investigation could set a precedent for future crypto crime prosecution in Nigeria, especially in establishing the legal framework for crypto asset recovery and cross-border enforcement.
While the EFCC’s progress offers hope for victims of the CBEX fraud, the incident is a sobering reminder of the perils of unregulated digital finance. As crypto scams become more sophisticated, public awareness, tighter regulations, and improved digital forensics will be crucial in safeguarding Nigerians from financial predators.