Nigerian crypto traders lose millions to scammers as Bitcoin continues to crash

Recent reports from Nigeria stated that the country's law enforcement agencies are struggling to fight off large-scale cryptocurrency-related fraud operations that are targeting investors. Fraudsters are constantly finding new ways to profit from the new and gullible crypto industry participants, which is especially true for developing countries.

With the global pandemic added into the picture, this seems like a perfect time for scammers to target unsuspecting investors, as Bitcoin continues to bleed in a recent market crash.

While many around the world fall victim to hackers due to greed, in developing countries, people are mostly seeking ways to make any kind of extra profit in failing economies, which is also the case in Nigeria. Unfortunately, due to scammers and fraudsters, they only end up losing what little money they had to invest in the first place.

Now, local reports are warning of fraudulent firms that are pretending to be genuine, offering major profits for small investments, only to eventually disappear with all the money. Depending on the company, it might simply claim to earn profit for investors by buying and selling different coins on exchanges, or they might provide complicated explanations involving generating revenue by speculating on the price movements via CFD accounts.

Meanwhile, unsuspecting investors continue to lose millions to such scams, and at the same time, regulatory authorities seem unable to take action to protect them.

The authorities and police cannot help

Cybersecurity expert, Anthony Ogbo, spoke to the media, stating that the government has to create crypto-specific regulation and a robust financial system to combat fraud. Until then, investors will simply continue to hope and lose their money.

One reason for the lack of progress is the fact that the authorities and law enforcement in Nigeria know little about crypto and blockchain technologies. There were multiple complaints of scammed investors filing reports and not getting any justice, as the police could not even find the promoter of the scheme. However, some complaints also note that the police only knows how to harass the country's youths who are trying to earn online legitimately.