By Nigerians who poured millions of naira into an online investment platform called PXES are now counting devastating losses after the scheme suddenly halted payments and became impossible to reach in early September.
Payments Stop, Panic Spreads
Investors who committed anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of naira found themselves stranded once PXES stopped honouring withdrawals, with many unable to make any contact with the platform’s operators.
The fallout has been intense, sparking anger that spilt over into aggrieved investors storming and looting PXES offices in several parts of the country, notably in Adamawa and Kogi states, as people scrambled to salvage whatever they could.
Investigations show the platform lured participants with daily returns that were unusually generous, reportedly ranging from 25% to 50%, with certain packages advertised as high as 120%. These figures could not be independently confirmed.
Chaos in Adamawa and Kogi
In both states, frustrated investors who could not withdraw their funds descended on PXES branch offices.
Footage circulating online captured people hauling away chairs, tables and other items from the company’s premises in Yola, with comparable scenes unfolding at its office in Kabba. One clip showed a man who said he had invested about N209,000 breaking down in tears over his inability to recover the money.
The Kabba branch manager had reportedly reached out to investors after payments ceased, promising compensation for their patience. Three days later, however, the office shut its doors entirely, leaving investors with no clarity on where the operators had gone or what had become of their money.
Victims Recount Their Losses
Several investors shared their experiences of how they got drawn into the scheme and ultimately lost their money.
Bunmi Awodipe said she decided to invest after three friends showed her proof that they were earning returns from PXES. She put in N200,000 and began receiving N7,000 weekly, but the payments stopped after just three weeks. “They told me they invested money in PXES and were receiving their payments. They showed me evidence, so I decided to invest N200,000 and was receiving N7,000 every week. They only paid me for three weeks. When I went to their office last week, I didn’t see anyone. The place was locked and there was nothing in the office. Everything was removed,” she said.
Deji Mulero said a customer introduced him to the platform on September 4, and he registered with N65,000, only for the platform to collapse that same Friday. “It’s one of my customers who introduced this thing to me on September 4. I registered with N65,000 and it crashed the same Friday. That was how I lost my money,” he said.
Another participant, who identified himself only as Wale, said he had registered with N207,000 and had built up nearly N600,000 in his account before everything came to a halt. “Been there for some months. Registered with 207k, now on first stage supervisor. Got close to 600k already on that account. My friend in Abuja introduced the scheme to me,” he said.
For 68-year-old Jumoke Talabi, the investment was meant to cover her granddaughter’s school expenses and household needs. She invested N64,800 after watching other participants get paid, having earlier received N70,000 from the platform before deciding to put in more. She recalled expecting a payment that never arrived. “I was meant to collect N18,000 before school resumes, and I thought that I would finish collecting all my profit. But so far, I have not collected any money. When they said we should withdraw on Friday, I was dancing. I told my brother that the money did not enter my account, but I was told it would hit my account in the evening. I was looking forward to it. They didn’t even pay me my N64,000. One of my friends doesn’t know what to do or where to go. She has been crying,” she said. Explaining what drove her to invest in the first place, she said, “It’s poverty that made me do it. If not poverty, I would not, because the money is meant for school fees. I thought that maybe, I would see some to buy rice and eat.”
Shola Adeshina, whose wife also lost money in the scheme, said many investors were drawn in by claims that modest sums could generate substantial daily earnings. He said his wife had initially brushed off his concerns because of stories about people profiting from the platform, including accounts of participants using their proceeds to buy cars and build houses. He added that the severity of the situation became clear when a couple who had invested millions visited a branch after payments stopped, only to find the office completely abandoned.
Inside PXES’s Structure
Interviews with participants, along with promotional material reviewed by AfrikTimes, indicate that PXES ran on a tiered membership model where members paid set fees to join and were then granted access to an online dashboard.
Funmi Deinde, who withdrew her money before the collapse, explained that the platform had different membership tiers, including Star 1, Star 2 and Star 3, each granting access to a dashboard where members completed daily “orders.” She said, “If you’re on Level Star 1, so to say, it is about N21,600. Then Star 2 is N54,800. Star 3 is N207,000. When you join with this money, you have an account, a dashboard that you’ll be taking orders from every day.”
She described how household products were displayed on the dashboard for members to interact with, likening the process to shopping on e-commerce platforms like Temu and Jumia, although participants never actually received any goods. “When you click ‘Order,’ they will highlight some of the things that you should be clicking. Household properties will be highlighted there. The money that you used to register has secured you a place as a member. So, you now have access to take orders every day,” she said.
According to Deinde, withdrawals were initially processed daily but later shifted to a weekly schedule as the platform’s membership grew. “Initially, every day, you can withdraw whatever you want to withdraw. The least withdrawal was N1,500, N5,000, N20,000, N100,000 and so on,” she said, adding that specific withdrawal days were eventually assigned based on membership level.
Another investor, Emmanuel Ajayi, said a N64,000 package yielded roughly N2,160 from daily tasks, while a N21,600 package generated about N720. Promotional materials reviewed by AfrikTimes listed entry packages starting from N21,600, with additional tiers at N64,800 and N207,000, claiming that a N21,600 investment could generate up to N259,200 over 360 days, while N64,800 could yield up to N777,600 in the same period, returns many times larger than the original amounts invested.
Members were also reportedly encouraged to recruit others and build referral networks. A security guard, who asked not to be named, said he invested N64,000 after his sister persuaded him to join, and managed to withdraw about N20,000 twice before losing the remaining balance when the platform stopped paying. He said his sister, who had built a much larger network on the platform, lost over N1m.
Investment Platform or Digital Marketing Company?
The way PXES representatives described the business raises questions about what the platform actually was and where the money used to pay early participants came from.
At an event held in Kabba, PXES representatives characterised the organisation not as an investment platform but as a digital marketing and advertising company. Company representative Olubowale Ayodele told attendees that PXES offered digital marketing opportunities aimed at unemployed people and graduates. “It’s a job that once you are doing it, we promote others; we promote brands from clients that have been giving to our company,” he said, urging jobless graduates to use their smartphones to take part in the work. “If you know you are a graduate, if you know that you are unemployed, or if you know that you just have your smartphone, use it to do this digital marketing work because it works,” he said. He also claimed one member of his team earned N700,000 weekly. “By God’s grace, I have got somebody even out of my team that is receiving 700,000 weekly as salary,” he said.
PXES training director Eniola Oluwatobi similarly described the company as an advertising firm that partnered with major e-commerce brands. “This is an advertising company. They partner with eBay and Amazon; those people give them, and PXES give us to advertise for them,” he said, explaining that products were distributed to members through the company’s app for promotional purposes. “So, the PXES distributes those products to us to advertise for them through their app. So, by doing that, people are seeing the products,” he added.
At the same event, the Obadofin of Oweland, a traditional ruler named Olusegun Are, praised PXES as a valuable income opportunity for Nigerians and claimed the platform had donated food items to more than 300 elderly residents in Kabba.
Warnings on Authorisation and Red Flags
The platform’s sudden collapse has raised fresh questions about whether it was ever authorised to solicit investment funds from the public in the first place.
Financial analyst George Samuel said prospective investors need to confirm whether an organisation is legally permitted to accept deposits or investment funds before committing any money, noting that registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission does not amount to such authorisation. “While a Corporate Affairs Commission number may be necessary, it does not serve as a licence to accept deposits or investment funds,” he said. “Avoid depositing or investing with any unlicensed firms. They are required to display their licence in their office, so ask or look for that SEC licence and do basic due diligence,” he added, stressing that institutions accepting deposits or offering investment products are subject to regulatory oversight.
Banker Kemi Junaid pointed to promises of unusually high, guaranteed returns as a major red flag. “Financial desperation and poor financial literacy often made people vulnerable to schemes promising quick and substantial returns,” she said, urging prospective investors to scrutinise how a company actually plans to generate the returns it promises rather than relying on the word of other participants.
EFCC Response
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it stands ready to investigate reported cases of financial crime and investment scams, provided formal complaints are lodged. EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale said, “Any issue of financial crime, Ponzi scheme, investment scam that is duly reported to the EFCC, the commission will look into it. But it must be duly reported.”
He noted that the commission has repeatedly issued advisories warning Nigerians against such schemes. “As a form of reminder, the commission has issued several advisories against investment scams and Ponzi schemes. And we will continue to advise members of the public on doing due diligence before going into investment,” he said, adding that the EFCC remains committed to shielding the public from preventable financial losses. “But as an anti-corruption agency, we are unrelenting in our operational and preventive modalities to ensure that members of the public are shielded from all of these avoidable losses,” Oyewale said. He did not confirm whether the commission had specifically opened an investigation into PXES.
Part of a Familiar Pattern
The PXES collapse fits into a recurring cycle of Ponzi-style investment failures that have battered Nigerians over the past two years.
In April 2025, the collapse of Crypto Bridge Exchange, widely known as CBEX, triggered one of the country’s largest recent Ponzi-related crises, with reports suggesting roughly 600,000 Nigerians had invested and losses estimated at around N1.3tn. That platform had promised 100 percent returns within 30 days through what it described as artificial intelligence-powered trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission later confirmed that CBEX and its affiliates were never registered to operate as a digital asset exchange or to solicit public investment, and said its preliminary findings showed the platform had manufactured a false sense of legitimacy while promising implausibly high guaranteed returns in a short timeframe. The EFCC subsequently launched an investigation, and by July 2025 the commission reported that some promoters had been arrested with recovery and forfeiture proceedings underway.
Roughly six months later, another platform, EMAAR, reportedly collapsed after drawing in more than 4,000 investors with promises tied to purported real estate investments. A December 2025 investigation found the platform operated mostly online, using Telegram groups to recruit and communicate with participants. It crashed on October 27, 2025, leaving victims unable to withdraw funds, with suspected losses later estimated at nearly N3bn.
In May 2026, yet another platform, XM Future Music Group, reportedly collapsed after investors found themselves unable to withdraw their money. Victims stormed its office in Badagry, Lagos State, and made off with generators, chairs, fans, televisions and other equipment. That scheme had promised returns for listening to music and completing simple online tasks, with entry packages ranging from N21,600 up to several million naira.
The recurring pattern, aggressive recruitment, early payouts to build trust, promises of exceptional returns, referral incentives, followed eventually by withdrawal problems and collapse, has become an all too familiar story for Nigerians navigating the online investment space.
PXES Goes Dark
Attempts to access PXES’s known website, pxesng.com, were unsuccessful. Some investors also reported that the platform’s WhatsApp channel had been blocked. A review of its Facebook page, PXES NG, showed the last post had been made on June 21, with earlier content largely focused on publicising training sessions and meetings for participants, including offline sessions aimed at teaching team building and how to maximise earnings. The page had also served as PXES’s main communication channel, featuring posts about its activities and claims of expansion across Nigeria and other parts of Africa. In some posts, the platform claimed to have positively impacted more than one million members through financial stability and welfare support.
(Punch)
