The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has urged unsuspecting investors to be wary of virtual assets and investment scams, which he said are on the rise.
The chairman gave the warning during a public lecture marking the African Union Anti-Corruption Day on June 11, 2025, themed: “Understanding Virtual Assets and Investment Scam.”
Olukoyede, who was represented by the Uyo Zonal Director of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC (ACE I) Johnson Oshodi, regretted that the investing public inadvertently aids fraudulent practices through lack of due diligence on schemes advertised to them.
Olukoyede insisted that no investment scam can succeed without the negligence of investors.
He observed that virtual and investment scams have the potential to outpace money laundering on the continent, given the way they are gaining prominence.
“In simplified language, virtual assets are digital representations of monetary values which operate on blockchain and which can be traded, exchanged, [and] transferred for payment or investment purposes. They are cryptocurrencies, digital tokens operating on ledger technology.
“It is important to clearly state that virtual assets are not fundamentally criminal. It is when they are wrongfully or fraudulently used that they become criminal. Technology is moving at a supersonic speed around the world.
“Fraudsters are exploiting vulnerabilities of desperate investors to defraud them through various dishonest schemes. Every exploitation of investors in any guise is considered a fraudulent act. Ponzi schemes rank as one of the most pervasive of such acts.
“Lessons derivable from the CBEX situation are very clear: the investing public inadvertently aids fraudulent practices through lack of due diligence on schemes advertised to them. Another lesson is that investors hardly send suspicious transaction reports to the EFCC until they are defrauded. We must understand that no investment scam can succeed without the negligence of investors.”
The Chairman, however, assured of the commission’s readiness to engage every stakeholder in its preventive and investigative activities, adding that virtual assets and investment fraud, like other fraudulent activities, remain preventable with the escape route being adequate knowledge and understanding of the issues involved.
The keynote lecturer at the event, ACE II Emeka Ukpai, stated that the window of ignorance which fraudulent investment operators are opening to defraud innocent members of the public should be closed.
