The Securities and Change Fee (SEC) has issued a contemporary warning to the Nigerian investing public, urging vigilance towards fraudulent funding schemes, together with Ponzi operations and unregistered digital asset platforms.
In a public discover launched on Thursday, the Fee emphasised the extreme dangers posed by these unlawful funding actions.
The fee burdened the significance of regulatory compliance to safeguard the soundness of Nigeria’s capital markets.
The SEC cautioned that fraudulent entities and people proceed to take advantage of unsuspecting buyers by selling misleading funding alternatives that promise excessive assured returns with little or no threat.
“These embrace unregistered platforms providing cryptocurrency investments, foreign currency trading, or blockchain-based schemes, which function exterior regulatory frameworks and lack approval from the SEC,” the Fee acknowledged.
The discover strengthened a vital warning: “If it sounds too good to be true, it doubtless is.”
To guard buyers, the SEC suggested potential stakeholders to conduct thorough due diligence earlier than investing and to confirm the registration standing of economic companies via the official SEC database: https://sec.gov.ng/cmos.
Moreover, Part 196(3) of the Investments and Securities Act, 2025 criminalizes the promotion and operation of unregistered funding schemes, making violators topic to extreme penalties.
“This violation is punishable upon conviction by a positive of not lower than N20 million or a jail time period of 10 years, or each,” the Fee warned.
The SEC reaffirmed its dedication to figuring out and prosecuting offenders who have interaction in unlawful {financial} practices.
“We encourage the general public to accomplice with the SEC to safeguard the integrity of Nigeria’s funding setting by promptly reporting suspected unlawful funding schemes for investigation and crucial enforcement actions,” the assertion concluded.
The Fee’s renewed crackdown on fraudulent funding platforms underscores the vital want for investor consciousness, strong regulatory enforcement, and public cooperation in making certain {financial} safety and belief in Nigeria’s capital markets.
The latest collapse of digital asset buying and selling platform CBEX has reignited pressing requires stricter authorities regulation and enforcement.
This failure has sparked widespread outrage and referred to as into query the oversight of presidency companies tasked with regulating such platforms.
