Nigerians took to their various social media platforms to lament their losses after a digital asset trading platform, known as CBEX, allegedly swept over N1.3 trillion from investors’ accounts on Monday.

This comes as CBEX, operating without legal approval from the Nigeria Securities Commission, crashed on Monday after the money in their investors’ wallets vanished.

The digital platform also locked its Telegram channels and postponed withdrawals while offering investors the option of $2,000 for $200 verification and $1,000 for $100 verification.

3 Things to know about CBEX

What exactly is CBEX?

CBEX is a digital trading asset platform that gives investors a 100 per cent Return On Investment in 30 days. Its purported goal was to create a secure, transparent environment for transactions.

However, its operational model now comes under scrutiny as allegations of fraud and deceptive practices emerge. The platform is said to display falsified withdrawal records to mask the difficulties users encounter when trying to access their funds.

Can Nigerians still withdraw their money?

Analysing the crash on X space organised by Trending X, a cryptocurrency expert and security analyst, Taiwo Owolabi said data has shown that the money was moved to a TRX address (yourself: TDqSquXBgUCLYvYC4XZgrprLK589dkhSCf) and a total volume stolen so far in USDT is $847 million and likely to increase.

Owolabi stressed that the invested funds are gone because CBEX is not a licensed platform, and the creators designed a weak website to look like ByBit, which is a legitimate trading platform.

“They designed the weak website to convince people in the future that it was a security breach that affected them. Apparently, when you make payments, you pay them into a TRX account, and then, immediately, they move it from that TRX wallet, gather it, convert it to USDT, and then to ETH. So, when you are logging into your account, there is literally no money on your profile.

“What you see are just numbers. All the daily activities you do to ‘trade’ increase your money. All the AI trading is fake. When it’s time for withdrawal, they will send you another person’s money.

“Since you won’t be leaving them because of greed. You will most likely put the money back and even more. So, they will use that same money to pay another person. As you spread the word for them, more people will join and do the same.”

Owolabi, while explaining the X space, said that in reality, all the funds are gone. Unless people decide to pay the $100 and $200 verification fees, that way, they will settle some people and leave others to languish.

He also maintained that it was the same way popular Ponzi schemes that have duped Nigerians in the past behaved, adding, “It is a rob Peter to pay Paul” deal.

So the fact here is that Nigerians who have deposited their money with CBEX can’t and will not be getting their monies back. It is gone.

SEC warns Nigerians against investing in Ponzi schemes

The development comes after the Nigerian Securities Exchange Commission recently warned Nigerians to stay clear of unregistered trading platforms.

SEC particularly pointed out that, following the ISA 2025 recently signed by President Bola Tinubu, it is now an offence for any entity to operate an online forex trading platform or provide related services without prior registration with the commission.

“By virtue of this act, it is an offense in Nigeria for any entity that is not registered by the commission to carry out the business of online foreign exchange trading platforms or related services.

“Any business entity planning to set up a business in any of these areas is advised to visit the HOD DRM Department of the commission for further direction on how to register with the commission to avoid sanctions,” it added.