Nigerians have been plunge into mourning after losing their funds to digital investment platform, Crypto Bank Exchange, CBEX. The incident has prompted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to launch an investigation into an alleged of 3 trillion Naira fraud.
CBEX created by a group of foreign nationals in collaboration with their Nigerian partners reportedly collapsed on Monday 15 April 2025, leaving thousands of investors stranded and unable to access their funds. The EFCC’s spokesman Dele Olewale said on Tuesday that commission would collaborate with the International Criminal Police Organization to investigate the incident.
Olewale further stated that the agency had already begun investigating CBEX before it collapsed. He added that effort were underway to arrest both with local and international operator behind the fraud came. He also reviewed that the commission was working to uncover other policies, schemes operating across the country.
Unconfirmed claim that Nigerian investors on the platform (CBEX) lost about N1.3 trillion NAIRA in US dollars. CBEx had reportedly changed domain several times within January, 2024 and February 1st, 2025. The platform widely promoted on social media and among peer networks promised high returns and investment, which induce Nigeria to invest substantial amount.
According Dele Olewale responding to an interview with TVC;
These people are brought to book. Investors are going to get their money back. And we’re already working on that, but everything I’m saying is that this kind of thing would have been averted but be it as it may, it was not averted. We are not going to throw our hands out effortlessly and say that there’s nothing EFCC can do about it, no, no, no…. We are more responsible, we are more professional than that. So we already, we have spread out our wings. We are talking to Interpol, we are talking to all the industry agencies across the World to be able to bring all the actors, we are going to bring them to book and investors, they’re going to have their money back.
He further caution;
It might not be in the short term, but I can assure you that the commission (EFCC) as the leading anti-corruption agency in Nigeria is not going to allow investors to just lost their money like that and say that no, because they’re not compliant with this or that, escapism is not a solution to any problem.
We’re going do our work. But, I’m just saying that to avert future occurrence of this kind of thing, there are some things that Nigerians also need to pay attention to!
Meanwhile, the crash of the platform has triggered nationwide outrage. The state police public relations officer Adewale couldn’t be reached for comments as of the time of filing. The EFCC’s spokesman Dele Olewale warn Nigerians to exercise caution before committing funds to any financial entity not registered!
Such a useful guide. Bookmarking this for later!
Great perspective. I hadn’t thought about it that way!
Thanks for breaking this down so simply!