Based on a Ponzi model, CBEX collapsed suddenly in April, ruining many investors, mainly in Kenya and Nigeria.
Edwin is still stunned by having lost more than 14,000 euros in the CBEX scam, a false cryptocurrency trading platform targeting African investors. That it ruins without state of mind. This civil servant Kenyan, who refuses to communicate his surname by shame, knew CBEX (for cryptobridge Exchange) by a friend, who brought him into a discussion group on Telegram, where CBEX promotes.
There is read guarantees of monthly yields of 100%, made possible by artificial intelligence, with high bonuses if it sponsored new entrants … So many classic characteristics of the pyramids of Ponzi.
“I had very major projects,” he said to AFP. “But I was deceived”.
The civil servant, without any experience in cryptocurrencies, began to invest in CBEX in August 2024. Sweetness of his first operations, he increased his bet, requesting a bank loan, that he does not know how to reimburse. Because its 2.1 million shillings (approximately 14,200 euros) flew. Edwin is one of the many Africans victims of cryptocurrency scams, who generated $ 9.9 billion (8.4 billion euros) of income worldwide in 2024, according to the Chainalysis analysis company.
No figure is available for Africa, however, where these scams gain in magnitude and sophistication. CBEX collapsed brutally in April, ruining many investors, mainly in Kenya and Nigeria, according to several media. Despite the current surveys and the warnings of the Nigerian and Kenyan authorities, AFP can affirm, by accessing the private groups Telegram in CBEX, that the cyber-arnaks have not stopped their operations, far from it.
“Handwrite”
Abby, another Kenyan, will long bear the guilt of having made Cbex known to 25 close to. “As they emptied our accounts, I invited friends and members of my family to invest a lot. And everything has disappeared,” he told AFP. “I feel sorry for them and I would really like to help them, but I am mowing.”
In Nigeria, the collapse of CBEX led to attacks against offices affiliated to the company, which have since closed. Adeoye, a Nigerian victim, lost 700,000 Nairas (around 400 euros). “The offer was attractive,” he said retrospectively. “I knew it was a risk, but I thought I was lucky to recover (money) before something happens.”
CBEX uses the tactics of “brandjacking”, adopting an acronym similar to that of China Beijing Equity Exchange, a company working with the municipality of Beijing, which denied any link with the Cyper-Escrors. The platform claims to be approved in the United States, another company, St Technologies International, being in charge of its technological solution.
It was thus registered in Nigeria, in September 2024, under the commercial identity of St Technologies International LTD (Smart Treasure/Super Technology). CBEX even obtained a certificate to combat money laundering from the country’s economic and financial crime commission (EFCC) last January. The EFCC, however, specified in a press release that this registration only concerned its “consulting services”. To increase its legitimacy, CBEX falsely claims to have been created in 2015 in Singapore, and ST eight years ago, before expanding in Africa in the past two years. After Nigeria, the cyber-hits hit Kenya.
“Build trust”
According to the investigator in cryptocurrencies Kenyan Wycklife Sewe, CBEX, while claiming to make the funds grow, actually transfers them outside the investor portfolios via Tron (a decentralized blockchain network, these databases which contain the history of transactions between users). The money is then transported through several wallets and after conversions in various cryptocurrencies to lose its mark, he explains to AFP.
“They have designed their system with a code for you (…) Make it believe that your money is still there and that you can see it grow. But it is moved immediately after your deposit,” said the expert, according to which CBEX leads to other scams.
CBEX has changed the field of its website several times to avoid attracting attention. AFP discovered that at least four different areas were recorded by this entity. A recent survey by the Crypto Specter analyst links CBEX withdrawal portfolios to Huione Guarantee, a platform based in Cambodia facilitating cryptocurrency.
In May, the US Treasury Department designated the Huione group as a “major concern in money laundering”, believing that it had allowed more than $ 4 billion in illicit transactions between August 2021 and January 2025. Following the collapse of the CBEX scam, the Kenya’s financial markets (CMA) published an “investor alert” unregulated platforms. The Kenyan Parliament also discusses a bill to regulate virtual assets.
“Never again”
In Nigeria, the financial gendarme EFCC announced the arrest of two individuals and the issue of arrest mandates against eight others. A new law has been passed, which criminalizes the pyramids of Ponzi.
But the surveys are long and costly. The EFCC has announced the recovery of a “reasonable sum” of funds lost in May, but without specifying an amount, highlighting the “complex processes” in these cases. A spokesperson for Telegram told AFP that “fraudulent content is deleted when discovered and that offender users are banned”.
AFP noted that certain Telegram groups of CBEX were now labeled as scams on the platform. On June 10, CBEX, who had previously accused hackers of having stolen the missing funds, said on his Telegram channel that she “compensated” the unfortunate investors, then asked them to pay “verification” fees to possibly recover their money. A common re -esteem tactic. Abby, he will not fall into the panel. “Never again!” He says. “I’m finished.”
