Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency says it has recovered some money linked to a major crypto investment scam that cost Nigerians an estimated 1.3 trillion naira.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) revealed that it has made progress in its investigation into CryptoBank Exchange (CBEX), a digital trading platform that promised investors 100% returns in just 30 days. The platform suddenly collapsed, and funds in investors’ wallets disappeared.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede, speaking in a televised interview on TVC, confirmed that arrests have been made in connection with the case, and others are still being tracked down.
“We have made reasonable arrests and recovered a reasonable amount of money,” Olukoyede said. “But we are keeping details limited for now so the investigation is not disrupted. We are still after several individuals who are currently on the run.”
He noted that tracking the stolen funds has been difficult because the fraudsters used “non-custodial wallets”—cryptocurrency accounts without any identification linked to them, making it hard to trace.
“They moved the money from these anonymous wallets to others in places like Cambodia and Eastern Europe,” he said. “We have, however, managed to block some wallets where the funds had not yet been dispersed.”
Olukoyede also warned that despite the high-profile collapse, some Nigerians are still falling for similar schemes. “People need to learn from this,” he urged.
Although the stolen funds were in cryptocurrency, he said the EFCC has managed to recover a portion of them. “You can’t recover it in dollars or cash directly it has to go through the same crypto route,” he explained.