Chidera Agbo, a storekeeper in Enugu State, paid $100 to cryptocurrency trader Henry Momoh in February with the hope of learning how to trade meme coins. When he did not get the value for his money and requested a refund, Momoh cited a no-refund policy which FIJ found to contravene the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act of 2018.
Agbo told FIJ that he had informed Micah, his friend, that he wanted to learn how to trade meme coins (cryptocurrency or digital currency originating from an internet meme). Even though he had been in crypto trading since 2018, Agbo wanted to upskill and learn how to trade Solana and then become an expert.
“So, that was the kind of thing I wanted. Micah said he knew somebody who was into that. I then asked him to send me the contact. I started chatting with the guy (Momoh) and he said the payment was $100, but I said I had $50. When he insisted on $100, I had to run around and look for the money,” Agbo narrated.
“He then added me to a Telegram group chat where they traded and there were a lot of trading bots. The first three coins I was able to buy were rug immediately.”
The term ‘rug’ is a crypto jargon for a crypto trader losing heavily after investing funds in a coin.
Agbo explained that Micah, who introduced him to Momoh had been his long-term friend from when they were undergraduates. He also said that they were National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members who served together in Abuja, which was where Micah met Momoh.
Agbo told FIJ that rather than send the $100 through a bank transfer, Momoh requested that he send $100 worth of Solana.

He said he paid the $100 with the expectation of being taught the nitty-gritty of meme coins and given access to where updates on the best coins to invest in would be shared.
When FIJ asked Agbo what Momoh taught him, he said, “He wasn’t teaching me anything. He just added me to the group just like any other person.”
“There was no individual attention for almost N200,000 that I paid. I then complained to him that that was not what I expected and that even the three coins that I invested $50 dollars, it rug-pulled.”
Agbo said that he made the $100 Solana payment on Saturday and requested a refund on Sunday. When he did, Momoh insisted that the money was nonrefundable and asked him to speak with Micah. Momoh said these before he blocked Agbo on WhatsApp.
“When I tried to call him on the Telegram channel, I noticed he had restricted me there as well,” Agbo added.
Momoh’s ‘no-refund policy’, FIJ found, contravenes the FCCPA.
According to Section 120 (1) of the Act, a customer has the right to ask for a refund.
A consumer shall have the right to cancel any advance booking, reservation or order for any goods or services, subject to a reasonable charge for cancellation of the order or reservation by the supplier or the service provider.
In Section 129 subsection 1A (ii) of the same Act, the customer’s right to ask for a refund cannot be overruled by any undertaking if they got a defective service or good.
An undertaking shall not make a transaction or agreement subject to any term or condition if its general purpose or effect is to defeat the purpose and policy of this Act, mislead or deceive the consumer, or subject a consumer to fraudulent conduct; waive or deprive a consumer of a right to return defective goods or any right set out in this Act.
When FIJ contacted Momoh, he said that he did not have an agreement to teach Agbo meme coin trading; the $100 was only a payment for access to the Telegram channel.
“I sent him a four-minute long voice note which is what I send to any person who reaches out to me with the intention of joining that group. I had posted the voice note on my status so that people would understand what they would get for the fee they would pay. Remember, the person who referred him to me (Micah) is a previous student of mine who is within the crypto space,” Momoh told FIJ.
Despite promising to prove his words, when FIJ asked Momoh for a screenshot of the chat where he sent the voice message to Agbo, he only forwarded the voice message but said that the chats had been cleared.
“I’m not sure if disappearing messages were activated on WhatsApp, but the person who referred me to him has full knowledge of the details of that voice note, else he (Agbo) wouldn’t ask for a channel where pump fun updates (signals) are posted,” Momoh said.

“In this screenshot (referring to the screenshot above) the word ‘student’ which he used also points to the fact that it is meant to be a crypto trading class,” Agbo added.
Agbo also told FIJ that he did not get any four-minute voice message. He got one which was six minutes long and another with a duration of one minute.When FIJ sent Agbo the four-minute voice message Momoh forwarded, he denied ever listening to it.
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