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CBEX began operations in Nigeria in July 2024 but by April 10, 2025, reports of withdrawal issues surfaced.
By April 15, the platform’s collapse became widely acknowledged with estimated loss of over N1trillion. Social media was flooded with complaints, and videos showed angry investors ransacking CBEX offices in Ibadan and Lagos.
CBEX locked its Telegram channels and attempted to reassure users on social media, but most experts and regulators confirmed the platform had collapsed.
A group of angry individuals stormed the CBEX office located in the Oke Ado area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Monday, looting furniture and other items after the digital trading platform reportedly crashed.
Eyewitnesses said the mob forcibly entered the premises, carting away tables, couches, and other office equipment.
The attack is believed to have been triggered by the sudden collapse of the platform, which allegedly left many users with zero balance in their accounts.
Following the incident, several users expressed frustration and grief over the loss of their investments, with some taking to social media to share their experiences.
The platform claimed to use artificial intelligence for trading, but experts and victims revealed that the trading activity and profits displayed were fake. Users faced a 40–45 day lock-in period before withdrawals, with penalties for early withdrawal. In April 2025, withdrawals were suspended entirely, and many users saw their account balances drop to zero.
Like most Ponzi schemes, CBEX enticed users with high returns, engineered proof of physical offices, and local officers who claimed they worked with the company’s head office in China, only that this was false, and this was a shell venture with no real backing whatsoever.
In a virtual session on April 14, 2025, with fintech stakeholders, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a firm warning to Nigerians regarding Ponzi schemes, without explicitly naming CBEX.
SEC Director General Emomotimi Agama warned that, “Recently, a particular platform has gained attention online, with numerous posts going viral regarding its activities. Subsequently, there have been reports suggesting its shutdown. I want to make this absolutely clear—if a platform is not registered with the SEC, it is illegal.”
The CBEX scandal represents the latest chapter in Nigeria’s long and painful history with Ponzi schemes. From early “wonder banks” in the 1980s and 1990s like Umana-Umana, Planwell, and Nospecto, to the devastating MMM collapse of 2016-2017 that affected over three million Nigerians, these fraudulent schemes have consistently exploited economic vulnerabilities.
By 2022, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) estimated that Nigerians lost N911.45 billion to Ponzi schemes over 23 years, with ₦300 billion lost in just the five years following MMM’s collapse.
Other notable schemes defrauded Nigerians include Twinkas, Ultimate Cycler, Get Help Worldwide, Loom, Racksterli, and MBA Forex, which swindled investors of ₦213 billion between 2018 and 2021.
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