The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has launched an investigation, in collaboration with the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and other international partners, into the alleged fraud perpetrated by a digital investment platform, CryptoBank Exchange (CBEX).
CBEX, which crashed on Monday, reportedly led to the loss of ₦1.3 trillion belonging to Nigerian investors, even as several videos online showed some Nigerians raising the alarm over the loss of their funds to the scheme.
Making an appearance on Wednesday’s edition of Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said the agency had received calls from different quarters over the incident and was already tracking the digital trading platform.
“Concerning this CBEX thing, we’re on it; it’s not that we didn’t know, and you know we’ve been alerting Nigerians about ways and means to separate themselves from this type of shenanigans. So, before the calls came, we were working; while the calls were coming, we were working, and even after the calls, we’re still working.
“I can assure you that all of the profiling we need to do, contacts that we need to make, and some collaborative engagement that we need to make, we’re already doing that. We’re in contact with Interpol. We’re in contact with our development partners.”
Oyewale stated that the anti-graft agency was not caught off guard by the scheme.
“Expectedly, we’re receiving quite a number of calls from Nigerians from all walks of life, from the media, from some of the victims, and from those who are not yet victims and who would want to be properly educated about what can be done to avert this kind of thing.
“Of course, we have been working; we’re not beaten by what happened. Our dragnet is wide; our intelligence is very effective. We’re tracking that digital trading platform. We profiled quite a number of things concerning the platform.”
He explained further that the Investment and Security Act (ISA) 2025 was a very important, well-conceived and responsive Act of the government aimed at checking illegal investment schemes.
He said that according to the Act, it is criminal to engage in any digital trading activity without being licensed and complying with all the extant laws, as any form of exchange or business engagement must conform to the provisions of the Act.
“And that has empowered us as a commission because we know that with the ISA 2025, it’s so easy for us if you’re involved in some kind of engagement and you’re not licensed and you’re not compliant with extant laws; I mean, it’s a straight thing. We will act accordingly, and we’ll bring such people to justice.
“Be it as it may, I think Nigerians also need to know that yes, we’re gaining strength with the ISA, but there is also a need for public vigilance because there are a lot of things that go with this Ponzi scheme thing, so Nigerians also need to be very vigilant.
“There is a need to critically look at some basic indices before going into any investment or any business engagement. For example, the returns on investment that all of these Ponzi schemes are parading are not only unrealistic, but they are also at variance with our laws, with the existing system in Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking further, Oyewale said, “We know that for every business concern, you declare your profit either quarterly, annually or bi-annually, but if somebody says, ‘Bring your money; I’m going to give you a return in 30 days,’ you know that is not realistic; it’s just not pragmatic.
“Or if somebody says, ‘If you bring your money, we’re going to give you a 100% return on investment,’ that is not possible; even we know that the prevailing interest rate in Nigeria is 27.5.”
He, therefore, advised Nigerians against investing in a business without considering the legal framework that regulates it.
“But the essential thing is that it is not too good for Nigerians to be falling victim to this kind of arrangement when we have a lot of enlightenment programmes that we’ve been doing.
