Fraudsters are reportedly using AI tools, including deepfakes and algorithm-generated content, to create the appearance of legitimacy and lure unsuspecting victims.

What’s Going On

• Scammers are advertising “innovative” investment platforms that promise guaranteed returns, no risk, and endorsements from celebrities or public figures. These claims are often fabricated using AI.
• Certain platforms, including CBEX, Silverkuun, and TOFRO, have been flagged by the SEC for operating without registration. These entities are using AI-powered trading systems to mislead investors.
• Deepfake videos or altered content showing public figures are being spread through social media channels, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, often as paid ads or viral reels. These are used to create false endorsements to build trust.

SEC’s Response

The SEC says it’s boosting its surveillance capabilities to track frauds in real time.

It’s working more closely with other regulators, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), to share data and coordinate enforcement actions.

The commission is also engaging with major social media platforms to reduce misleading ads, especially those that promote unverified investment schemes. Influencers and content creators are being cautioned not to promote unlicensed financial products, according to The Guardian Nigeria report.

What Investors Should Watch Out For

• Always confirm if a platform is duly registered with the SEC by checking its official website.
• Be skeptical of any investment that promises unrealistically high returns, claims zero risk, or uses video endorsements with public figures.
• Be wary of “too good to be true” offers, especially when the messaging uses AI enhancements, or claims a platform uses AI-driven trading systems.

Investors who lost funds have now been told to pay up to $200 if they hope to retrieve what was stolen from them.

CBEX, which presented itself as a digital trading platform promising quick profits, shut down operations in April, locking thousands of Nigerians out of their accounts and wiping out savings. 

This led to public outrage and even violent reactions, with the scheme’s office in Ibadan looted during protests by angry victims.

Now, the scheme appears to be making a comeback, sending messages to past investors urging them to log into their accounts. Some report that account balances have suddenly reappeared, but with conditions.

“Someone told me to check my CBEX account this morning, claiming our balances had been restored,” one user told Peoples Gazette, sharing a screenshot showing a seemingly reinstated wallet.

But before withdrawals are allowed, users must pay a new activation fee. According to multiple victims, CBEX is asking for $200 from those who had invested more than $1,000. Investors with lower amounts are being told to pay $100.

“This seems like another trap—they’re asking for $200 to ‘continue trading’ before allowing withdrawals,” said another affected user.

This latest development has triggered fresh uneasiness that the operators may be attempting to recycle the fraud, capitalising on the desperation of victims who are still clinging to hope.

Back in April, CBEX claimed its systems had been “hacked” and blamed the shutdown on a cyberattack. Users were removed from discussion groups like Telegram, cutting off any chance of collective complaint or mobilisation. 

The so-called trading platform, which had guaranteed returns of up to 100% in 40 days, vanished without warning.

In the aftermath, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) launched an investigation, arresting several suspects and confirming that stolen funds had been moved across multiple foreign countries. Two additional collaborators were declared wanted last week.

The EFCC has admitted that full recovery of lost funds is unlikely, leaving many devastated families without restitution.

What’s happening now feels like a cruel second act. Instead of providing justice or resolution, CBEX is back to prey on those it already devastated, asking them to risk even more, for the slim chance of getting something back.

Speaking during an interview with TVC, EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede confirmed that the agency is deep into its probe of the scheme. “We have gone far with CBEX. We have been able to recover a reasonable amount of money,” he stated.

CBEX had lured Nigerians with promises of 100% returns in 30 days, using seminars and well-packaged presentations, including appearances by individuals posing as capital market professionals. 

Behind the scenes, however, foreign operatives were orchestrating a large-scale fraud with the support of local recruits. Many investors watched their account balances vanish after withdrawal restrictions began on 9 April 2025.

Olukoyede revealed that the EFCC has been tracking the flow of funds through complex layers of cryptocurrency wallets. “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,” he explained.

The fraudsters used non-custodial wallets, unregistered and anonymous, making it difficult to trace the end beneficiaries. “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,” he said. 

These funds were moved through Europe, with Eastern Europe and Cambodia identified as key destinations. “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.”

The agency says it has arrested some suspects but is still searching for others who fled. “We are not going to give out too much because we don’t want the process to be truncated,” Olukoyede said. “We are still after quite a number of people that we have declared wanted.”

The scheme’s deceptive structure, the chairman noted, involved foreigners partnering with Nigerians to register clients, organise awareness campaigns, and hold investment seminars. 

“They registered the clients and they used them to create awareness. In fact, they have seminars. We have the tape of their seminars and their conferences. They bring in professionals, people who are specialists in capital markets. Yes, there was the case that they brought a PhD holder, a specialist in capital markets.”

Thousands of Nigerians, believing the platform was credible, invested their savings, only for it to collapse. Many were told to deposit additional funds in order to reactivate their frozen accounts. Victims reported being asked to pay at least $100, or $200 if their balance exceeded $1,000.

However, even after the collapse, CBEX reportedly resumed operations under the radar, reactivating new user registration and offering withdrawals. This was seen by many as a tactic to deflect investigations from legal authorities and attract fresh victims.

The EFCC has warned that the public must stay vigilant. “I even learnt that there are still some of these perpetrators and Nigerians are still falling victim. I believe people should learn from this,” Olukoyede warned.

Investigations continue as the Commission digs deeper into CBEX’s network and monitors blocked wallets for any movement of funds. For now, the fight to reclaim stolen money and hold those responsible to account is still ongoing.

CBEX promised a 100% return on investment within 30 days to investors, accepting only dollar-denominated investments.

On its website, CBEX claimed to have obtained a legal trading license in the United States with independent offices in the US, South Korea, Hong Kong, and other regions.

CBEX relies majorly on social media hype, word-of-mouth advertisement, and posted testimonies from supposed beneficiaries.

For months, the promise of quick wealth had bound a lot of people to the platform, a company that promised returns too good to resist. Initially, people invest and get their returns, pushing more people to join the platform.

Gradually, people began reporting delays in withdrawal with CBEX blaming system upgrades and network issues.

Then, they finally began reporting that their balance had changed to zero; that was when the issue escalated as it became clear to many that their funds were gone. Many Nigerians took to various social media to cry and also emphasized the damage suffered.

An X user, @Jhoy_ _ _ _ _ wrote:

“This cbex thing is rough, and I hope life catches up to the perpetrators. My neighbor and his wife invested in it, and the wife’s 9 siblings! The siblings also brought people into it. They’re shattered. The wife was hoping to travel abroad, she’s a nurse.”

A TikTok user, @tees_supplierinlagos, posted a video of her shedding tears after losing N10 million to CBEX.

Another X user, @ezeh_pat wrote:

“CBEX has crashed, another Ponzi bites the dust. Nigerians will still rush into the next one. Poverty doesn’t gamble its last kobo, Greed does. Poverty shares info and Greed keeps quiet, hoping to cash out alone. When will we learn?

CBEX reportedly locked their telegram account and posted an update for investors to be able to access their funds.

They need to go through a verification process, where they pay $200 to unlock $2,000 and $100 to unlock $1,000. However, other internet users advised the CBEX victims to desist from falling victim the second time.

CBEX is not the first Ponzi scheme that will leave Nigerians in tears, from MMM to Racksterli and now CBEX.

While some view the victims of these Ponzi schemes as greedy people trying to use quick routes to success, others believe the situation of Nigeria with the growing economic challenges pushed people into falling victims despite the red flags.

One would think the MMM saga of 2016 was a turning point. Apparently not.

I’ve watched these stories back-to-back with a familiar sense of déjà vu. The emotional videos. The looted offices. The TikTok tears. And at the centre of it all—deceitful promises of wealth. CBEX promised to double your money in weeks. People believed it. Why?

The answer can be found somewhere between desperation and blind hope. Nigeria’s economy has tightened its hold on many, especially young people. 

Jobs are scarce, inflation is suffocating, and honest income feels too slow to catch up with daily needs. So, when a platform like CBEX shows up with smooth talk and fast returns, it starts to look less like a scam and more like a saviour.

But it never is.

Take Pretty Nikky Babe, for instance—a TikTok user who posted a tearful video with the caption: “CBEX don carry my savings.” Her pain is raw, and unfortunately, it’s shared by many people. 

One woman, Bola, stood outside the ransacked CBEX office in Ibadan weeping, not just for herself but for the friends whose money she collected and invested—over $1,000 in total. “Me 200 dollars, but I collected all my friends’ money… all the money 1,000 dollars,” she sobbed. That’s more than a financial loss, as it involves communal shame.

The emotional fallout was inevitable. On Monday, a mob descended on CBEX’s office in Oke Ado, Ibadan. They didn’t come with petitions or placards. They came for revenge. They carried off furniture, solar panels, anything they could find. The videos went viral. So did the anger.

But this isn’t new.

Dr Penking wrote on X: “Nigerians never Learn. This is the list of Ponzi schemes that have made away with Nigerians’ hard-earned money yet they still fall mugu…” And the list is long. From MMM Nigeria to Ultimate Cycler, Get Help Worldwide to Baraza, and now CBEX—more than 40 names have fleeced Nigerians over the last decade.

So why do people keep falling?

Greed? Maybe. But that’s not the full story. It’s also about the hopelessness many feel. The belief that the system doesn’t work, that no one is coming to help, and that hustling—any kind of hustling—is better than staying broke. 

Al’ameen wrote: “You are not an investor when you put your money in CBEX or any ponzi scheme. You are just a greedy gambler that’s desperate to make money out of anything.”

Still, it’s not always greed. Sometimes, it’s misinformation. Sometimes, it’s peer pressure. Sometimes, it’s just plain desperation. A young man told BBC Pidgin he lost ₦450,000—money he was about to withdraw until a friend told him to be patient. Then CBEX crashed. Another lost $16,000. One victim, Oguonu Nchedo Esther, wrote online: “My kids are just crying as if someone died… all the hopes I gave them are just scattered… we are back to zero.”

CBEX admins reportedly moved over $822 million into a private Ethereum wallet. According to @Crypto4bailout on X, “CBEX Admin Stole $913,000,000 from Gullible Users.” The scale of theft is unimaginable. And the fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had earlier flagged the platform as unregistered only adds salt to injury.

But, why do SEC warnings fall on deaf ears?

Because many Nigerians don’t trust institutions anymore. The same government that issues these warnings is seen as corrupt and uncaring. So people rely on word-of-mouth, Telegram groups, and social media influencers—many of whom hype these platforms for a cut.

The CBEX crash is not the end of Ponzi schemes in Nigeria. Sadly, it’s just another chapter. People are angry now, but give it time, and another ‘opportunity’ will rise—another promise, another platform, another loss.

In the end, we can’t keep blaming ignorance. There are too many examples, too many warnings. At some point, we have to admit we have a problem with easy money.

We want to skip the queue. We want wealth without the wait. But that shortcut almost always ends in regret.

And until we change that mindset, CBEX won’t be the last.