By Obas Esiedesa
Abuja-The Securities and Alternate Fee, SEC, yesterday warned Nigerians to watch out for a rising wave of synthetic intelligence, AI-driven scams concentrating on unsuspecting buyers with guarantees of assured income and pretend superstar endorsements.
The fee in an announcement, recalled that platforms reminiscent of CBEX, Silverkuun, and TOFRO had been working illegally by promoting AI-powered buying and selling programs that promise unrealistic returns.
“These platforms aren’t registered or regulated by the SEC, but they proceed to mislead the general public with false claims of AI-driven investments. They pose severe dangers to buyers therefore the fee issued collection of disclaimers towards their actions,’’ the assertion learn.
SEC defined that fraudsters had been more and more turning to deepfake movies and AI-generated content material to lure victims, mentioning that manipulated movies that includes politicians, celebrities and TV hosts had been being shared via Fb adverts, Instagram reels, and Telegram teams to offer fraudulent platforms an air of credibility.
“Scammers are exploiting AI to manufacture endorsements and testimonials that seem real. This has made conventional fraud detection strategies much less efficient, therefore the necessity for tech-enabled regulation and better public consciousness,” it added.
To counter the rising risk, SEC defined that it was adopting superior surveillance programs able to detecting fraudulent exercise actual time, including that partnerships with the Central Financial institution of Nigeria, CBN, and the Nigerian Monetary Intelligence Unit, NFIU, had been being strengthened to allow data-sharing and joint enforcement actions.
“We’re shifting from reactive to predictive oversight. That is important in combating fraud and systemic dangers in our market,” the fee emphasised.
SEC mentioned it had additionally engaged social media corporations to clamp down on deceptive adverts and cautioned influencers towards selling unlicensed funding schemes.
It warned: “Any influencer or blogger discovered to be complicit in selling unlawful platforms will face regulatory sanctions and even prosecution.’’
The fee urged Nigerians to take further precautions earlier than investing, stressing that any scheme promising every day income, zero threat, or celebrity-backed endorsements ought to be handled with suspicion.
It acknowledged: “Any funding that ensures unrealistic returns or makes use of manipulated movies of public figures ought to instantly increase a purple flag.”
The fee additional inspired Nigerians to confirm the registration standing of any funding platform on its web site, the place an inventory of licensed capital market operators was accessible.
It added that buyers ought to affirm that registration numbers displayed on firm web sites matched the small print on the SEC portal and keep away from platforms that solely function via Telegram or WhatsApp and not using a verifiable workplace deal with.
The put up Ponzi: SEC raises alarm over AI-generated funding scams appeared first on Vanguard Information.
