… Investors lament, SEC warns over Unregistered Online Forex Schemes
Daud Olatunji
Nigerians have reportedly lost over N1.3 trillion to an unregulated digital asset trading platform, CBEX, which crashed on Monday, sparking outrage and grief across social media.
The platform, which operated without approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), allegedly wiped off investors’ funds from their virtual wallets before locking access to its Telegram channels and suspending withdrawals.
CBEX has since offered a controversial “verification” package — demanding $200 or $100 from affected users to access $2,000 and $1,000 respectively, raising further suspicions of fraud.
Preliminary analysis by cryptocurrency and cyber-security expert, Taiwo Owolabi, revealed that the platform may have stolen as much as $847 million (approximately N1.3 trillion at current exchange rates) in USDT from Nigerian investors — a figure that could rise as more victims come forward.
Owolabi described the CBEX operation as a classic Ponzi-style scam.
“They designed a weak website to create the impression of a security breach,” he said during a live X Space discussion.
“Payments were directed to a TRX wallet, quickly moved and converted to USDT, then to ETH. The balances users saw on their dashboard were fake — just numbers manipulated by the platform.”
He added that the so-called AI trading and daily task activities designed to boost users’ balances were fabricated.
“When people requested withdrawals, they were being paid with new deposits from other users. It was a typical pyramid scheme masked as crypto innovation,” he noted.
Public anger erupted on X (formerly Twitter) following the crash, with many users expressing frustration over repeated investment scams in the country.
One user, Steve Fred, lamented, “Are we not just fantastically stupid in Nigeria? Nigerians are as gullible as their leaders. How many times will they be scammed before they have sense?”
Another user, identified as Oku, pointed to the unrealistic returns promised by CBEX, stating, “You have no business doing a business that promises you 50 percent to 100 percent ROI. The smaller the profit, the more I TRUST YOU.”
CBEX’s collapse comes on the heels of a renewed warning by the SEC, which cautioned Nigerians against investing in unregistered trading platforms.
The commission, referencing the recently enacted Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, stressed that it is now a criminal offense for any entity to offer online forex or related trading services without formal registration.
“By virtue of this Act, it is an offense in Nigeria for any entity that is not registered by the commission to carry out the business of online foreign exchange trading platforms or related services,” the SEC stated in a recent advisory.
It further urged prospective operators to engage with its Digital Regulation and Monitoring Department (HOD DRM) to ensure compliance and avoid sanctions.
As the digital investment space continues to expand, experts warn that without stronger investor education and regulatory enforcement, Nigerians remain vulnerable to fraudulent schemes disguised as fintech innovation.
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