The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has assured Nigerians who invested in the troubled CBEX digital trading platform that efforts are ongoing to recover their funds.
This comes after the platform, which had promised investors a 100 percent return on investment, reportedly began experiencing withdrawal issues last weekend, prompting outrage and protests from investors.
On Monday, aggrieved individuals stormed and looted the office of Smart Treasure, said to be an affiliate of CBEX, located in the Oke Ado area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Morning Brief on Wednesday, EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale said the commission had been monitoring the activities of CBEX even before the situation escalated publicly.
“We were not waiting for Nigerians to call us before we started our work, of course, we have been working,” Oyewale said. “We were not beaten by what actually happened. Our dragnet is wide, our intelligence is very effective, and we were tracking that digital trading platform.”
He noted that the EFCC had profiled the platform long before the public outcry, and warned Nigerians about potential scams.
According to him, the Commission had in March released a list of 58 suspected Ponzi schemes, including CBEX.
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“That shows that we are proactive and we have our hands on what is happening,” he added. “We’ve been alerting Nigerians about ways and means of how to separate themselves from this kind of shenanigans.”
Despite the setbacks, Oyewale assured that the anti-graft agency is working closely with international partners to recover funds and bring perpetrators to justice.
“We are already working with Interpol and our international development agencies to ensure that these people are brought to book,” he said. “Investors are going to get their money back, and we are already working on that.”
He, however, urged Nigerians to exercise patience, as the process may take some time.
“It will be very irresponsible and unprofessional if the EFCC says that you have lost your money; there is nothing the commission can do about it. We are more responsible and professional than that,” Oyewale said.
He emphasized the need for Nigerians to be more cautious and skeptical about quick-money investment schemes, stressing that many of them are fraudulent.
