By Kingston Magare
As Nigerians who invested in the digital investment platform, CryptoBank Exchange (CBEX) groan about their losses after the Ponzi scheme crashed on Monday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has assured that they would get their money back.
Over N1.3tn invested by Nigerians in the scheme is hanging in the balance, but according to EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale who was speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, all hopes was not yet lost.
“It would be very irresponsible and unprofessional of the EFCC to say you have lost your money and there is nothing the commission can do about it; we’re already working with Interpol and we’re already working with our international development agencies to ensure that these people are brought to book,” Mr. Oyewale said
“Investors are going to get their money back and we’re already working on that. All I’m saying is that this kind of thing could have been averted, but we’re not going to throw our hands up helplessly to say that there’s nothing the EFCC can do about it. No, we’re more responsible; we are more professional than that.”
He noted that the EFCC had warned Nigerians on the dangers of putting their money into suspicious investment platforms. CBEX like many other Ponzi schemes that had swindled Nigerians offered 100 percent guarantee return on investment.
“You’ll recall that on March 11 this year, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, had cause to instruct us to alert Nigerians about 58 Ponzi scheme companies; we came out with a list–that shows that we’re proactive and we have our hands on what is happening.
“So, concerning this CBEX thing, we’re on it; it’s not that we didn’t know, and you know we’ve been alerting Nigerians about ways and means to separate themselves from this type of shenanigans. So, before the calls came, we were working; while the calls were coming, we were working, and even after the calls, we’re still working.”
Meanwhile depositors continue to flock to the offices of CBEX in Ibadan and Lagos with the hopes that they can get some answers to their questions on the state of their investment. Some have taken the laws into their hands by vandalising property. Meanwhile the identities of the individuals behind the scheme remain unknown.
