Digitnomics 
Investors in online investment platform PXES have stormed the company’s offices in Adamawa and Kogi states following reported difficulties accessing their funds, raising fresh concerns over the risks associated with unregulated digital investment schemes.
The development comes after customers reportedly gathered at the platform’s Yola office in Adamawa State, with videos circulating online showing people removing furniture and other office equipment amid anger over failed withdrawals.
A similar incident was reported at PXES’ office in Kabba, Kogi State, where aggrieved investors also reportedly stormed the premises. One investor seen in a circulating video claimed to have put ₦209,000 into the platform.
The reports could not be independently verified by Digitnomics at the time of publication. Police authorities in Adamawa also said they had not received an official account of the alleged Yola incident when contacted by other media.
PXES describes itself as a global e-commerce marketing company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Its promotional materials say it entered the Nigerian market in July 2025 and allows members to complete online promotional tasks and receive commissions.
The platform’s promotional materials also state that 60 per cent of service fees are returned to members as incentives.
However, its reported investment structure has attracted scrutiny because participants deposit money into different plans and receive promised returns over specified periods.
According to reports on the crisis, some participants were unable to withdraw expected earnings, triggering panic among investors in several locations.
The latest development has renewed concerns about a familiar pattern in Nigeria’s digital investment market, where platforms can attract large numbers of participants through social media, referral networks and promises of unusually high returns before withdrawal problems emerge.
SEC Warns Against Online Investment Schemes
The Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly warned Nigerians about unregistered online investment platforms.
In May 2026, the SEC warned against the increasing promotion of unregistered investment schemes across WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Facebook, TikTok and other digital platforms.
The regulator said many of the schemes exhibit characteristics of Ponzi or prohibited investment schemes and advised Nigerians to avoid platforms promising unrealistic or guaranteed returns.
The SEC has also warned that only entities registered with the Commission are authorised to provide investment services or solicit funds from the public in Nigeria’s capital market.
The warning followed several cases involving online platforms that experienced withdrawal problems after attracting investors with promises of high returns.
In April 2025, the SEC said CBEX, another digital investment platform, was not registered or authorised to operate in Nigeria. The Commission said preliminary investigations showed that the platform used promises of implausibly high guaranteed returns to attract investors and had failed to honour withdrawal requests before shutting its physical offices.
CBEX subsequently became one of Nigeria’s most prominent recent digital investment collapses, with losses reportedly estimated at about ₦1.3 trillion.
The Regulatory Gap
The PXES crisis again raises questions about how quickly regulators can identify and stop questionable investment platforms before thousands of Nigerians commit their savings.
Unlike licensed banks, pension funds and registered capital-market operators, many online schemes build their customer base primarily through social media and referral networks.
By the time withdrawal problems become public, substantial amounts of money may already have changed hands.
The SEC currently provides a public register through which investors can verify whether an investment operator is registered before committing funds.
For investors, the latest PXES developments provide another warning: an online platform’s professional website, physical office, social-media presence or successful early withdrawals does not by itself establish that the underlying business is legitimate.
The critical questions remain whether the operator is properly regulated, where the promised returns come from, and whether the business can generate those returns without relying on continuous inflows from new participants.
As PXES investors seek answers over their funds, the episode adds another chapter to Nigeria’s growing list of digital investment crises and highlights the financial cost of entering schemes without independently verifying their regulatory status.
