Nigeria’s top anti-corruption and financial regulators have sounded the alarm over a spike in fraudulent schemes within the country’s rapidly expanding virtual asset ecosystem.
Speaking at a forum titled “Understanding Virtual Assets and Investment Fraud” held in Lagos, senior officials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) called for increased vigilance, public education, and enhanced inter-agency collaboration to tackle digital finance-related crimes.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede, represented by Zonal Director Michael Nzekwe, described virtual asset fraud as a growing threat to financial security and national development in Africa.
“Africa continues to be assailed by corruption in diverse ways. The issue of illicit financial flows is a challenge to African development, with annual losses running into billions of dollars,” Olukoyede stated.
He noted that while money laundering remains the most dominant financial crime, the rise of virtual asset-related scams is fast becoming an equally serious concern.
“Virtual assets are not fundamentally criminal. It is when they are wrongfully or fraudulently used that they become criminal,” he explained. “Fraudsters are evolving ways of perverting their genuine purposes.”
The forum underscored the importance of regulatory awareness, cross-sector cooperation, and public sensitisation to curb exploitation within the digital financial space.
