By Tochukwu Bliss, Abuja
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), today, said it has uncovered yet another suspected illegal investment platform identified as TOFRO.COM (Tofro).
The Commission raised the alarm in a notice made available to journalists, in which it warned Nigerians against falling for their tactics to obtain money from them through the promise of unusually high returns.
This comes as the authorities are still struggling to apprehend the promoters of the Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), in which Nigerians lost an estimated N1.3trillion ($822million) in the investment scam.
SEC, in the warning notice, said that the suspected investment platform prides itself as a cryptocurrency trading platform, adding that the scheme is not registered by the Commission.
It said that based on its investigations, Tofro’s operations exhibited the typical indicators of a fraudulent Ponzi scheme.
SEC noted that such fraudulent schemes usually promised an extraordinarily high returns, heavy reliance on a referral system (pyramid) to sustain payouts and failed to honour withdrawal requests from subscribers.
The Commission hereby informs the public that the Tofro is not registered by the Commission either to solicit investments from the public or operate in any other capacity within the Nigerian capital market.
The Commission therefore advised Nigerians to be wary of investing with Tofro, warning that any person who invests in the scheme, does so at their own risk.
The notice reads: “The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission has been drawn to the activities of an online platform known as TOFRO.COM (Tofro), which holds itself out as a cryptocurrency trading platform.
“The Commission hereby informs the public that the Tofro is not registered by the Commission either to solicit investments from the public or operate in any other capacity within the Nigerian capital market.
“Investigations have revealed that Tofro’s operations exhibit the typical indicators of a fraudulent Ponzi scheme, including the promise of unusually high returns, heavy reliance on a referral system to sustain pay-outs and failure to honour withdrawal requests from subscribers.
“Accordingly, the public is strongly advised to be wary about investing with Tofro, as any person who places such investment with the entity, does so at his/her own risk.
“The Commission similarly reminds potential investors of the need to verify the registration status of investment platforms via the Commission’s dedicated portal: www.sec.gov.ng/cmos before transacting with them.”
