Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the agency has recovered part of the money stolen through the now-collapsed Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), a digital investment platform, which allegedly defrauded Nigerians of over N1.3 trillion.

In an interview with TVC, the EFCC boss confirmed that arrests had been made in connection with the scheme and that efforts were ongoing to apprehend other suspects on the run.

“We have gone far. We have made reasonable arrests. We are not going to give out much because we don’t want the process to be disrupted. We are still after some people we have declared wanted,” he said.

Olukoyede noted the complexity of the investigation, explaining that although the funds were stolen via cryptocurrency, the agency had been able to trace and recover a portion.

He, however, said converting the digital assets back to physical cash remained difficult due to the nature of crypto transactions. He added the EFCC’s probe had been hampered by the use of non-custodial wallets by the fraudsters, which lack Know Your Customer (KYC) identification, making it difficult to trace the owners.

“We are still investigating a lot of wallets, and the wallets they created are called non-custodian wallets; in other words, no KYC. So, you can’t trace it to anybody.” He said the criminals allegedly moved the funds through various international crypto wallets.

“So, from the non-custodial 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,” he said.

The EFCC boss also said the agency was currently working on helping six Nigerian banks recover billions of naira stolen by hackers, who gained access to the banks’ systems.

While declining to mention the affected banks to protect their image, the EFCC boss indicated that major banks were involved.

According to the EFCC boss, the commission had recovered over N9 billion for a major bank.

“For another one, we’ve been able to save about N6 billion,” he added. Olukoyede noted that the fraud could not have happened without the involvement of the banks’ staff, who connived with the hackers. He explained that the hackers used devices, which they plugged into the bank’s systems, to commit the heinous act.