ABUJA -Head, Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewale, has confirmed the agency’s receipt of a petition alleging the collapse of a cryptocurrency digital trading platform known as MTS/TOFRO, on which approximately 14,000 Nigerians were reported to have invested a whopping N1.8 trillion.
Oyewale, said the petition dated August 7, 2025, was submitted to the anti graft agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by counsel to the investors, Ebuka Nwaeze Esq.
The petitioners, through their lawyer, are seeking the assistance of the EFCC to investigate, trace, recover and redistribute their funds involving a cryptocurrency trading platform; MTS/OFRO.
“We consequently pray the Commission to use its good offices to investigate this matter; trace, recover and redistribute the funds of our client, and prosecute any person found culpable in the unlawful activity complained of, in order to deter other fraudulent characters from doing so and to altogether shore up the Cyber Security reputation of Nigeria” the petitioners stated.
According to the petition, the platform was introduced to Nigerian digital trading enthusiasts by two businessmen who held several seminars, placed public and digital adverts and newspaper publications encouraging Nigerians to subscribe and use the platform for digital exchange and trade.
These two Nigerians, the petitoners wrote, “presented themselves as the accredited representatives of the founder of the platform, Prof, Harris.
Counsel to the petitioners told the EFCC that the operators of the crypto platform capitalised on the SEC’s directive for regulation of crypto trading platforms to convince investors that they were already in the process of registration and reopening of the platform after full compliance, while they closed down their physical offices.
“Our clients’ enlistment and participation on the platform were in good faith, being that MTS/TOFRO is a reputable organisation registered in the United States of America, and its platform enjoys wide participation in America as well as in various countries in Europe.
“Specifically, the platform has been operational in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Ghana, the Netherlands, etc., since 2022 when it was founded by an American, one Professor Harris.
“Many of our clients, being law abiding citizens, considered and found the activity of the platform to be in consonance with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030), which encourages Nigerians to participate in the digital economy, as Nigerian Government proclaimed active pursuit of digital transformation to create jobs and increase the contribution of the digital economy to the Nigerian GDP from about 14.3% to 21% by the year 2030, Nwaeze stated.
