N1.3trn Crypto Fraud: Why It’s Difficult Nailing Perpetrators –EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has stated the difficulty in promptly nailing perpetrators of the N1.3 trillion crypto fraud linked to CryptoBank Exchange (CBEX).

The digital trading platform had attracted a flurry of patronage after it boasted of giving investors 100 per cent Return On Investment in 30 days.

It however crashed after the money in their investors’ wallets vanished, leading to over N1.3 trillion trapped.

Chairman of EFCC, Ola Olukoyede while providing an update on the fraud, stated that investigation had been challenging because the fraudsters used “non-custodial wallets”.

This, according to him, means there was no identity attached to the accounts, making it harder to trace the criminals.

“We are still investigating a lot of wallets and the wallets they created are called noncustodian wallets; in other words, no KYC. So, you can’t trace it to anybody.

“So, from the noncustodial wallet, they moved it to some wallets in Europe, Eastern Europe, particularly Cambodia and from there, they dispersed the money.

“We have been able to block some of these wallets where money has not been dispersed.

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“That is to the extent that we have gone. I even learnt that there are still some of these perpetrators and Nigerians are still falling victim. I believe people should learn from this,” he said.

Olukoyede explained further that although the stolen money was in cryptocurrency, the EFCC has managed to trace and recover part of it.

“Even though in the crypto wallet, the same way the money was taken from them. There is no way you will get them in dollars. There is no way you get the dollars in cash without necessarily going through the same process,” he stated.

EFCC says it is still hot on the heels of those behind the mega crypto fraud.