The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Sunday announced the partial recovery of funds linked to the Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), a Ponzi scheme disguised as digital investment platform.
EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede revealed the update during an interview with TVC on Sunday. According to him, the agency has made significant progress in tracking down and recovering a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency.
Suspects arrested
Olukoyede confirmed that several suspects connected to the scam have been arrested and that the EFCC had been able to track down and retrieve a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency.
“We have gone far with CBEX. We have been able to recover a reasonable amount of money,” Olukoyede said.
However, he noted that converting the recovered cryptocurrency back into cash has posed challenges.
“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,” stated the EFCC chair.
While some suspects are already in custody, the EFCC chief said the agency is still pursuing others who remain at large
“We have gone far. We have made a reasonable arrest,” he said.
“We are not going to give out much because we don’t want the process to be disrupted. We are still after quite a number of people we have declared wanted,” he said
Investigation stalled by use of non-custodial wallets
The chairman highlighted the difficulties faced due to the scammers’ use of “non-custodial wallets,” which do not require Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, making it hard to trace the funds back to individuals.
“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,” Olukoyed explained.
“So, 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,” he added.
The EFCC has managed to freeze some wallets where the funds have not yet been dispersed. He warned that despite the ongoing crackdown, some perpetrators remain active, and Nigerians continue to fall victim to similar scams.
“That is to the extent that we have gone. I even learnt that there are still some of these perpetrators and Nigerians are still falling victim. I believe people should learn from this,” he added.
Thousands of Nigerians, especially young people, lost their life savings when CBEX crashed, as previously reported by Techpression. These individuals thought they were investing in a legitimate platform.
Court ordered detention of CBEX’s promoters
In April, one of the suspected promoters, Adefowora Abiodun, turned himself in to the authorities following a court order. Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court approved the EFCC’s request to detain and arrest six CBEX promoters, including Abiodun.
The EFCC, through its counsel Fadila Yusuf, declared Abiodun and five others—Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, Seyi Oloyede, Avwerosuo Otorudo, and Chukwuebuka Ehirim—wanted in connection with the fraudulent scheme worth over $1 billion.