The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has confirmed the recovery of funds and the arrest of suspects linked to the massive Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) scam, which defrauded Nigerians of over N1.3 trillion
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede made the disclosure during an interview with TVC, noting that the agency has made “significant progress” in its investigation of the collapsed digital investment scheme.
“We have gone far with CBEX. We have been able to recover a reasonable amount of money,” Olukoyede stated.
Although the stolen funds were in cryptocurrency, the EFCC has managed to trace and retrieve part of the assets. However, the chairman explained that converting crypto back into cash presents major challenges due to the complexities of digital transactions.
“Even though it’s in the crypto wallet, the same way the money was taken from them, there’s no way you get the dollars in cash without necessarily going through the same process,” he said.
Olukoyede also revealed that several suspects have been arrested, while others remain at large. He refrained from disclosing too many details to avoid jeopardizing ongoing operations.
“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’ve declared wanted,” he added.
A major obstacle in the investigation is the use of non-custodial wallets by the fraudsters—wallets that don’t require identity verification, making them difficult to trace.
“These non-custodial wallets allowed them to operate anonymously. From there, they transferred funds to wallets in Europe and Eastern Europe, particularly Cambodia, and then dispersed the money. We’ve been able to block some of these wallets where funds hadn’t yet been moved,” he explained.
Olukoyede warned that despite the platform’s collapse in April—after users were locked out of their accounts—some of the perpetrators are still active and unsuspecting Nigerians continue to fall victim.
“I believe people should learn from this,” he concluded.
The CBEX platform shut down amid growing complaints of failed withdrawals, leaving investors stranded and triggering public outrage.
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