Nigerian authorities have accused four Kenyan nationals of participating in an online fraud scheme, leading to a warrant for their arrest. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) listed Johnson Okiroh Otieno, Israel Mbaluka, Joseph Michiro Kabera, and Serah Michiro as suspects under investigation for fraud committed via the online platform Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX).
In a statement issued last Friday, EFCC noted, “The public is hereby notified that the persons whose photographs appear below are suspected foreign accomplices wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for fraud allegedly perpetrated on an online trading platform called Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX).”
Two weeks ago, Nigerians and Kenyans raised alarm on social media over the sudden crash of CBEX, a platform claiming to be a cryptocurrency investment service, accused of withholding millions of dollars in customer funds. The digital asset trading platform had promised a staggering 100% monthly return. It had also promised to double traders’ investment within 30 days.
CBEX positioned itself as a trading platform that uses AI to generate accurate trading signals. However, when users were unable to withdraw returns or their initial deposits, the platform blamed it on a hack.
The trading platform then shut down its official Telegram platform. Thereafter, it requested digital traders to make further deposits of $100-$200 to unlock existing funds, a tactic often employed by collapsing pyramid schemes. According to the BBC, the suspected amount lost in the online fraud totals KES 104.87 billion, equivalent to USD 811.7 million.
Read: Police Expose Kenyan Scammers Behind WhatsApp Account Hacks in Uganda
Under Nigerian law, the EFCC is charged with the task of combating economic and financial crimes, thereby enabling the commission to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and penalize economic and financial crimes. The EFCC has also issued arrest warrants for the CBEX executives and celebrity promoters based in Nigeria.
One of the suspected promoters of the trading platform, Adefowora Abiodun, voluntarily surrendered himself to the agency on Monday. In total, 6 Nigerian promoters were declared wanted. The agency has also stated it is working with the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to find out who is behind the CBEX platform and how to recover traders’ money.
