The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has begun recovering stolen funds from Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), a digital investment platform that crashed in April. While investigations continue, several arrests have been made.
Speaking during an interview with TVC, EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede confirmed that the agency is deep into its probe of the scheme. “We have gone far with CBEX. We have been able to recover a reasonable amount of money,” he stated.
CBEX had lured Nigerians with promises of 100% returns in 30 days, using seminars and well-packaged presentations, including appearances by individuals posing as capital market professionals.
Behind the scenes, however, foreign operatives were orchestrating a large-scale fraud with the support of local recruits. Many investors watched their account balances vanish after withdrawal restrictions began on 9 April 2025.
Olukoyede revealed that the EFCC has been tracking the flow of funds through complex layers of cryptocurrency wallets. “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 explained.
The fraudsters used non-custodial wallets, unregistered and anonymous, making it difficult to trace the end beneficiaries. “We are still investigating a lot of wallets and the wallets they created are called noncustodian wallets; in other words, no KYC. So, you can’t trace it to anybody,” he said.
These funds were moved through Europe, with Eastern Europe and Cambodia identified as key destinations. “From the noncustodial wallet, they moved it to some wallets in Europe, Eastern Europe, particularly Cambodia and from there, they dispersed the money. We have been able to block some of these wallets where money has not been dispersed.”
The agency says it has arrested some suspects but is still searching for others who fled. “We are not going to give out too much because we don’t want the process to be truncated,” Olukoyede said. “We are still after quite a number of people that we have declared wanted.”
The scheme’s deceptive structure, the chairman noted, involved foreigners partnering with Nigerians to register clients, organise awareness campaigns, and hold investment seminars.
“They registered the clients and they used them to create awareness. In fact, they have seminars. We have the tape of their seminars and their conferences. They bring in professionals, people who are specialists in capital markets. Yes, there was the case that they brought a PhD holder, a specialist in capital markets.”
Techeconomy.ng reports that thousands of Nigerians, believing the platform was credible, invested their savings, only for it to collapse. Many were told to deposit additional funds in order to reactivate their frozen accounts. Victims reported being asked to pay at least $100, or $200 if their balance exceeded $1,000.
However, even after the collapse, CBEX reportedly resumed operations under the radar, reactivating new user registration and offering withdrawals. This was seen by many as a tactic to deflect investigations from legal authorities and attract fresh victims.
The EFCC has warned the public to stay vigilant. “I even learnt that there are still some of these perpetrators and Nigerians are still falling victim. I believe people should learn from this,” Olukoyede warned.
