We’ve recovered some money from CBEX — EFCC boss

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the agency has recovered part of the money stolen through the now-collapsed Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), a digital investment platform that allegedly defrauded Nigerians of over N1.3 trillion.

During an interview with TVC on Sunday, the EFCC boss confirmed that arrests have been made in connection with the scheme and that efforts are ongoing to apprehend other suspects who are currently on the run.

“We have gone far. 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.

Olukoyede noted the complexity of the investigation, explaining that although the funds were stolen via cryptocurrency, the agency was able to trace and recover a portion.

However, converting the digital assets back to physical cash remains difficult due to the nature of crypto transactions.

“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.

He said the EFCC’s probe has been hampered by the use of non-custodial wallets by the fraudsters, which lack Know Your Customer (KYC) identification, making it difficult to trace the owners.

“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.”

The criminals allegedly moved the funds through various international crypto wallets. “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 said.

Olukoyede also warned that despite the platform’s collapse in April and public outrage, some Nigerians are still falling victim to the fraudulent scheme.

“I even learnt that there are still some of these perpetrators and Nigerians are still falling victim. I believe people should learn from this.”

CBEX collapsed earlier this year after users reported failed withdrawals and the sudden disappearance of account balances.

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE