The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has made significant strides in its investigation into the Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) fraud, which defrauded Nigerians of over N1.3 trillion.
EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, disclosed in a recent interview with TVC that the commission has successfully recovered a portion of the stolen funds and arrested several suspects connected to the scam.
Speaking on Sunday, Olukoyede explained that despite the complexity of tracing cryptocurrency transactions, the EFCC has managed to track and retrieve some of the illicit assets. “We have gone far with CBEX. We have been able to recover a reasonable amount of money,” he said.
The chairman elaborated that the stolen funds were held in cryptocurrency wallets, which posed challenges in converting the recovered assets back into cash. “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,” Olukoyede noted.
He further revealed that the EFCC has made a number of arrests but refrained from disclosing details to avoid compromising ongoing investigations. “We have made a reasonable arrest. 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.
The investigation has been complicated by the use of non-custodial wallets by the fraudsters, which do not require Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, making it difficult to identify the perpetrators. Olukoyede said, “The wallets they created are called noncustodian wallets; in other words, no KYC. So, you can’t trace it to anybody.”
The EFCC traced some of the funds to wallets in Europe and Eastern Europe, particularly Cambodia, and has managed to block some accounts before the money was further dispersed. “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 CBEX platform collapsed in April, leaving investors unable to withdraw their funds and with account balances wiped out. The collapse triggered widespread outrage on social media. Despite this, CBEX has resumed operations quietly, allowing new users to trade and withdraw profits, an effort to regain investor confidence.
Olukoyede warned that some perpetrators remain at large and Nigerians should learn from the incident to avoid falling victim to similar scams in the future.
