CBEX and the Rest of Us -By Zayd Ibn Isah

Borrowing the words of social media influencer Adebayo Ridwan Abidemi, popularly known as IsBae U, who runs the popular podcast “Curiosity Made Me Ask”, curiosity also made me ask Google for reliable statistics on the world’s most desperate and gullible citizens, especially in the wake of the controversy surrounding the sudden collapse of a Chinese online investment scheme called CBEX.

To my dismay, I couldn’t find a specific answer to my question, as there are currently no statistics on which country has the highest number of desperate and gullible citizens. But if statisticians ever decide to conduct that research, I’m sure Nigerians would make the top ten, because, as we say in pidgin, “we no dey carry last.”

It is this desperation, fueled by gullibility, that has turned Nigeria into fertile ground for scammers cleverly disguised as investors. I’m sure that when the CBEX perpetrators from China were perfecting their tactics and scouting for a destination to carry out their heist, much like it was done in the Spanish crime drama “La Casa De Papel, created by Álex Pina, Nigeria was selected as the preferred destination due to several factors: our large population, a history of scam-related activities, and the get-rich-quick syndrome that pervades our society.

To tell you how bad the situation is, there have been over fifty Ponzi schemes that have made away with Nigerians’ money since 2016, beginning with MMM—CBEX being the latest, but certainly not the least, on the list. You might even have heard of, or had an encounter with any of them here: Ultimate Cycler, Twinkas, Loom, Racksterli, YellowTraders, MBA Forex, Chinmark Group, Ovaioza Farm Produce Storage, Helping Hands International, WealthBuddy, BitFinance Global, FINAFRICA, etc. The list goes on and on and on.

Just like most of the other fraudulent trading and investment platforms before it, CBEX deployed tested tactics to deceive its users. For one, after its emergence in July 2024, it rented an office in Ibadan, Oyo State. This was set up to give the impression that it was a serious company with physical headquarters. Secondly, CBEX also displayed falsified documents to appear legitimate, including supposed U.S. registrations. This creative illusion was taken further when it claimed to be a global platform with links to a government-owned business in China. However, Beijing Equity Exchange, in a statement released in 2024, denied any affiliation with CBEX.

But most Nigerians did not listen, and many more were not even aware when Beijing Equity Exchange announced that it had no connection with CBEX. All these warnings fell on deaf ears. Instead, people were more attuned to familiar goodwill messages being spread by various CBEX agents: “Invest one hundred thousand naira and get two hundred thousand naira.” And when users logged into the platform, they would be put at ease by fake charts and balances with no real trading being done behind the scenes. Successful referrals also earned bonuses, motivating people to recruit new members in order to earn commissions.

Unsurprisingly, the beginning was smooth. This smoothness went according to plan, until CBEX reached its target number of customers. Then its masterminds zoomed off, leaving behind pain, sorrow, and, in some cases, broken homes. Reports indicate that the platform has allegedly absconded with over N1.3 trillion (approximately $850 million USD) from unsuspecting investors, although crypto analysts believe the actual amount deposited was likely a few million dollars.

There is the story of a woman who didn’t like the car her husband bought for her. She sold it and invested the money in MMM, hoping to double the amount and buy a better one. Unfortunately for her, she never got to buy her dream car from the proceeds of her investment, because, as we say around here, her money “entered voicemail.” Now imagine how the husband would feel.

I am surprised that none of the victims of the Ponzi scheme has blamed the government for its inability to provide employment opportunities, because even civil servants also fell victim in their desperation to become millionaires overnight. The whole thing has to do with our value system, our desire to become super-rich without lifting a finger from the comfort of our homes, and the propensity to believe and trust easily without deep thought or even simple scrutiny via diligent research, all of which have combined to create a society that rewards shortcuts over substance, illusion over integrity, and fantasy over financial discipline.

The CBEX saga is just one chapter in Nigeria’s long-running tale of economic deceit. But if there’s anything to learn from it, it’s that financial literacy is no longer optional, it’s a necessity. We must begin to educate ourselves, our families, and our communities on the risks of too-good-to-be-true promises. Wealth that is not built on value creation or hard work is almost always a trap.

But beyond individual awareness, the government must rise to its duty of protecting citizens. Regulatory agencies must be proactive, not reactive. Laws must be enforced. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done. We cannot keep watching our fellow citizens walk into well-laid traps while we remain silent or indifferent. It is unfortunate that CBEX was never approved by the SEC, which is against Nigerian law, as investment platforms are required to register. And it is even more unfortunate that most people ignored the enormous red flag of an unapproved investment platform, especially when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission listed CBEX among dozens of suspicious schemes.

Now that the worst has already happened, the EFCC has announced that it would collaborate with Interpol to track down the masterminds, including those possibly hiding overseas. That is welcome news, although some might see it as medicine after death. And speaking of death, as at the time of reporting this, there are already reports going round of a young man in Uyo who took his own life after falling victim to this latest ponzi disaster. If this is true—though I hope to God that it isn’t, it would not be the first time that the victim of a ponzi scheme has chosen to end their lives in unimaginable despair.

For every CBEX, MMM, or MBA, there are thousands of Nigerians left emotionally broken, financially wrecked, and socially shamed. Unsurprisingly, new perpetrators of ponzi schemes are sometimes old victims of previous ones. This vicious cycle guarantees that even after the fall of CBEX, another would rise to scam Nigerians further. And by God, they would have fresh victims to defraud.

And who knows, by then there would be an evolution of methods and tactics for perpetrating these schemes successfully. I have heard that in being aware of the grimy reputation of so-called investment/trading platforms on social media, CBEX primarily targeted an older demographic of Nigerians. They must have reasoned that the elderly would be unaware of the danger of ponzi schemes.

I also saw a video where deepfake technology was being deployed to deceive unsuspecting Nigerians. Just so you know, a deepfake is a type of artificial intelligence used to create fake videos, audios, or images that look and sound real. This technology can be used to deceive people by making it seem like someone said or did something they didn’t. In this particular 58-second video, deepfake technology was used to show a renowned journalist, Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV fame, endorsing a ponzi scheme in the exact manner of a news report!

Of course, Seun Okinbaloye and Channels TV would never endorse a fraudulent investment/trading platform, especially one claiming to reward users with impossible ROIs. But just how many of us would be able to discern what is real from what is fake, particularly now that artificial intelligence can be used to hoodwink vulnerable people? Now, more than ever, we must take action against misinformation, outright deception and the scourge of untrustworthy elements amongst us. This is because the failure to act, as individuals, as a society, and as a nation, will always enable another Ponzi scheme to spring from around the corner, ready to exploit our people and leave misery behind in its wake.

Zayd Ibn Isah can be reached at lawcadet1@gmail.com