The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a 26-year-old man, Godslove Munachiso Obiwuru, identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a cybercrime suspect, over alleged involvement in a cryptocurrency account takeover scam.
Obiwuru appeared before Justice M. T. Segun-Bello of the Federal High Court sitting in Independence Layout, Enugu, on a two-count charge bordering on money laundering.
According to the EFCC, the defendant allegedly retained 0.042 Ethereum, worth about $50, in a Binance wallet in 2022, knowing it to be proceeds of an unlawful act. He was also linked to funds traced to compromised cryptocurrency accounts.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Following his plea, EFCC counsel, Assistant Superintendent of the EFCC (ASE) A.Y. Abdullahi, urged the court to set a trial date and remand the defendant. Defense counsel, Abel Anih, however, requested time to file a bail application.
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Justice Segun-Bello adjourned the matter for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that Obiwuru be remanded in EFCC custody.
Obiwuru was arrested on August 5, 2025, after a petition by the FBI alleged his involvement in auctioning a cryptocurrency account takeover scheme.
The petition revealed that in November 2022, a Coinbase account belonging to a U.S. citizen was hacked, resulting in the theft of 90,410.126 Gold Retriever Tokens (GLDN), valued at approximately $307,394 at the time. FBI investigators traced part of the stolen digital assets to a Binance account allegedly operated by the defendant.
Further investigations by EFCC’s Special Task Force in Enugu suggested that Obiwuru received stolen cryptocurrency from two different victims.
The case underscores the growing cooperation between Nigerian authorities and international partners like the FBI in tackling cyber-enabled financial crimes.
The EFCC has repeatedly warned Nigerians against involvement in cryptocurrency scams, which continue to attract global law enforcement attention as digital assets become increasingly targeted by fraudsters.
