Follow Us on Google
From Shafa’atu Suleiman
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned that digital investment scams and the misuse of virtual assets are rapidly emerging as the most dangerous financial crimes in Nigeria, with the potential to surpass traditional money laundering in scale and impact.
The Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, gave the warning during a lecture to mark African Anti-Corruption Day in Sokoto.
Represented by the Acting Zonal Director of the Commission’s Sokoto office, DCE Nwanneka Nwokike, Olukoyede said the surge in virtual investment fraud poses a new and growing threat to the nation’s financial stability, especially as many citizens remain unaware of the risks involved.
He said that while Africa continued to be assailed by the scourge of corruption in diverse ways, the issue of illicit financial flows remains a challenge.
However, he affirmed that “another rising criminal engagement that has the potential to outpace even money laundering on the continent is virtual assets and investment scam”.
Continuing on the year’s theme, “Understanding Virtual Assets and Investment Scam” the EFCC chairman clarified that virtual assets are not fundamentally criminal except when they are wrongfully or fraudulently used.
He appealed to Nigerians to strive to make the country work for all by ensuring that they report any act of fraud.
Presenting the first paper on “Understanding Virtual Assets” , Promise Alaegbu said it was no longer news that the future of money is virtual currency, hence the world financial system is rapidly changing.
Other News
Alaegbu also noted that more than half of the world had adopted crypto currency as over 119 countries globally are using it.
Stressing that virtual assets is legalized in Nigeria as well, Alaegbu advised however that it is highly volatile, with regulatory uncertainty and no reversal of transaction as well as prone to scams and high cyber security risk plus technical complexities.
To the question whether virtual assets are good investments, the speaker responded in the affirmative, adding however that it depended largely on the level of one’s understanding.
Delivering another paper on “Investment Fraud”, the Sokoto EFCC Zonal head, Tax Fraud Section, ACE 11 Mustapha Abubakar Yusuf, said investing in digital assets required certain levels of risk appetite.
Yusuf, who warned that no business can guarantee 100% investment returns in a month or two, advised that any business that promises high return at low or no risk would be unreal.
“It’s not realistic to have a 100 percent return on investment within 1 or 2 Months. People should not be rushed into making investments as no legitimate organization will pressure people into investing on the spot,” Yusuf said.
Giving difference between fraud/scam and Ponzi scheme, Yusuf said the former “is deceiving people in a way that is illegal or dishonest, or intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or surrender a legal right while the latter is fraudulent investment scam where returns are paid to earlier investors using the capital of others.”
On how to protect ourselves from financial investment fraud, Yusuf asked people to seek advice before making significant financial decisions and also check if the company is regulated by the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC).
