The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria has alerted the investing public of its discovery of another suspected illegal investment platform identified as TOFRO.COM (Tofro), as part of its sustained regulatory efforts to protect Nigerians and other residents in the country from falling to the antics of investment fraudsters.
The Commission raised the alarm in a notice issued on Thursday, warning the public that the suspected investment platform holds itself out as a cryptocurrency trading platform but was not registered for any investment scheme by it.
The capital market regulatory commission stated that based on its investigations, Tofro’s operations exhibited 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, it strongly advised Nigerians to be wary about investing with Tofro, noting that any person who places such investment with the entity, does so at their own risk.
- Advertisement -
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”, it added.
It would be recalled the SEC Director-General, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, had consistently maintained that it was crucial that Nigerians understand the dangers of putting their hard-earned money into ventures that are not registered or regulated by the SEC.
He clarified: “It is disheartening that some Nigerians and foreign accompanies have specialised in duping Nigerians and governmentt won’t sit and watch Nigerians being duped and this is what SEC is coming out to the people to educate them that if it too good to be true, then watch out.
“We have seen many Ponzi schemes in the past, and the Investments and Securities Act had been signed into law by the President and the law recommends N20m fine and 10 years imprisonment for offenders of Ponzi Scheme.
“So, that has empowered us to be in a better position to flush out all these fraudulent investment schemes that are damaging our economy
“We are using this sensitisation outreach to bring information to our people and that is why we are here and telling them that we are here to assist them to confirm legitimate investment schemes and we are letting them know we feel their pain.
“As we are doing this, we have helped to educate them against being duped. CAC registration and EFCC certificate is not enough to show that the company is registered with SEC and these are red flags.
“Training programmes being organised by these people to lure people into their schemes are also illegal. Verify before you invest in any scheme, and that is our message to Nigerians”, the Director-General stressed.
