The Bag and Securities Commission (SEC) warned the Nigerians who are careful of a growing wave of artificial intelligence scams (AI) who are addressed to off -unveiled investors with promises of guaranteed profits and birds of false celebrities.
The commission, in a statement, recalled that platforms such as Cbex, Silverkuun and Tofro illegally operated when announcing commercial systems with AI that promised unrealistic returns.
“These platforms are not regulated or regulated by the SEC, however, they continue to deceive the public with false investments claims promoted by AI. They raise serious risks to investors; therefore, the commission issued a series of discharge of responsibility against their activities,” said the commission.
The SEC explained that the scammers are increasingly resorting to Deepfake videos and content generated by AI to attract the victims, noting that the videos manipulated with politicians, celebrities and television presenters are being shared through Facebook ads, Instagram reels and telegram groups to give fraudulent groups a credibility air.
According to the commission, “the scammers are exploiting the AI ​​to manufacture endorsements and testimonies that seem genuine. This has made traditional fraud detection methods less effective, hence the need for a regulation enabled for technology and a greater public awareness.”
To counteract the growing threat, the SEC explained that it is adopting advanced surveillance systems capable of detecting fraudulent activity in real time, and added that associations with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) are strengthening to allow data exchange and joint application actions.
“We are going from reactive to predictive supervision. This is essential to combat fraud and systemic risks in our market,” the commission emphasized.
The regulator said that it has also hired social media companies to review the deceptive ads and warned influencers against the promotion of investment schemes without a license.
“Any influencer or blogger that is complicit in promoting illegal platforms will face regulatory sanctions or even prosecution,” said the SEC.
The commission urged the Nigerians to take additional precautions before investing, emphasizing that any promising scheme of daily gains, zero risk or endorsers backed by celebrities must be treated with suspicion.
He declared: “Any investment that guarantees unrealistic yields or use manipulated videos of public figures should immediately raise a red flag.”
The Commission also encouraged the Nigerians to verify the registration status of any investment platform on its website, where a list of license capital market operators is available.
He added that investors must confirm that the registration numbers shown on the company’s websites coincide with the details on the SEC portal and avoid the platforms that only operate through Telegram or WhatsApp without a verifiable office address.
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