Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a public alert on Thursday warning citizens against participating in unregistered online investment platforms spreading across social media, stating that many operate like Ponzi schemes and expose investors to total financial loss.
The commission said it had observed a sharp rise in fraudulent investment promotions on WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Facebook and TikTok, with operators luring unsuspecting members of the public using promises of unrealistic or guaranteed returns.
Invoking the provisions of the Investments and Securities Act 2025, the SEC stated that only entities it has registered are legally permitted to offer investment services, solicit funds from the public, or provide financial advisory services within Nigeria’s capital market.
“Only SEC-registered operators are authorised to provide investment and advisory services in Nigeria,” the commission said in the notice posted on its official X account.
The regulator cautioned that several platforms currently active online hold no registration or authorisation from the commission, and warned that some operators are providing financial services to the public without any legal basis for doing so.
The SEC advised Nigerians to verify the registration status of any investment platform or company before committing funds, and urged them to treat any scheme that guarantees unusually high returns as a significant warning sign of fraud.
The warning arrives against a heavy backdrop of documented financial damage from digital investment fraud. Nigerian investors lost an estimated N300.2 billion to fraudulent investment schemes in recent years, according to SEC records, while the collapse of one platform, Crypto Bridge Exchange, caused an estimated one billion dollars in losses in 2025 alone.
The commission has repeatedly flagged specific platforms in the period leading up to this broader alert, identifying schemes that used artificial intelligence terminology, referral incentive structures and celebrity associations to create false legitimacy before disappearing with investor funds.
