The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has warned celebrities, influencers and bloggers against promoting unregistered investment schemes, saying violators faced possible imprisonment. In a statement yesterday, the commission explained that it was working closely with law enforcement agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and other relevant government bodies, to investigate and prosecute …

On Page 28 of his very provocative book, The Present Darkness: A history of Nigerian organized crime, (2016) Stephen Ellis, British historian and Africanist, compared Nigerian politics to con artistry. Their practices, he said, were not different from acts of fabulists and fraudsters. Ellis’ take on Nigerian leaders synchronizes with a Henry Louis Gate’s The New Yorker piece of 25 …

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have vowed to hunt down operators of Ponzi schemes nationwide. The Federal Government agencies declared this on Wednesday following the collapse of the digital assets platform, CBEX. The SEC revealed that it had yet to receive formal complaints about the collapsed digital assets platform, while the …

Nigerians on several social media platforms have begun to count their losses as a digital asset trading platform (popularly known as CBEX) reportedly swept over N1.3 trillion from their investors’ accounts. The digital trading platform crashed on Monday after the money in their investors’ wallets vanished. CBEX also locked its Telegram channels and postponed its withdrawals while giving investors the …

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has launched an investigation into the alleged N1.3 trillion frauds perpetrated through a digital investment platform, CryptoBank Exchange (CBEX). CBEX, operated by a group of foreign nationals in collaboration with their Nigerian partners, reportedly collapsed on Monday, leaving thousands of investors stranded and unable to access their funds. The EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, …

Another ponzi scheme just crashed, leaving behind a trail of losses, pain, and shame. Like clockwork, the conversations online followed a familiar script: ‘Nigerians are too greedy’. ‘They should have known better’. ‘It was obviously a scam’. And I’ll admit it’s easy to think that way at first. But then I paused. I reflected. And I realised: Maybe we’re not …

Promoters of Ponzi schemes now risk up to 10 years imprisonment following the passage of the Investments and Securities Amendment Bill (ISB) 2023 into law by the Senate. The bill, which is expected to aid the functioning of the capital market and facilitate the ongoing economic diversification in the country, among others, had been passed by the House of Representatives …