Thousands of Nigerians fall victim to CBEX digital trading scam

Thousands of Nigerians have been left devastated following the sudden collapse of CBEX, a digital asset trading platform that has allegedly vanished with over N1.3 trillion in investors’ funds, in what is now being described as one of the largest financial scams in Nigeria’s digital history.

The platform, which aggressively marketed itself with bold promises of 100% returns within 30 days, abruptly crashed on Monday.

Users awoke to find their digital wallets emptied, all withdrawal options frozen, and CBEX’s Telegram support channels deactivated—cutting off communication completely.

In a troubling turn of events, CBEX launched a so-called “verification” process shortly before disappearing, asking users to pay additional fees ranging from $100 to $200 in a supposed effort to reclaim their investments.

This demand only deepened suspicions that the platform was operating a well-orchestrated fraud scheme.

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CBEX had previously presented itself as a secure and transparent digital trading solution, mimicking the look and feel of trusted exchanges like ByBit.

It used slick marketing and fake transaction records to convince users of its legitimacy, while behind the scenes, deposits were reportedly being funneled into TRX wallets, converted to USDT, and later moved into Ethereum (ETH)—bypassing any real trading activity.

Investigations suggest that investors never actually owned the digital assets they thought they were trading.

Instead, their dashboards displayed fabricated balances, with fake AI-generated trading profits used to maintain the illusion of success.

In reality, CBEX operated as a Ponzi scheme, using funds from new investors to simulate returns for earlier ones.

Sources also revealed that CBEX operated without proper licensing and maintained a poorly secured website, designed to deceive users while avoiding regulatory oversight.

Analysts believe the final verification phase was a desperate ploy to extract more money from panicked investors—possibly to pay a few and keep the illusion alive—while the majority is left with nothing.

Authorities and financial watchdogs are now being urged to act swiftly to investigate the fraud, trace the stolen funds, and hold the perpetrators accountable.