The Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested 193 foreign nationals in a busted operation against a cybercrime and cryptocurrency fraud syndicate in the city of Lagos, Nigeria.
According to EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, the suspects – comprising 148 Chinese nationals and 40 Filipinos – were arrested on December 10 2024 at the seven-story Big Leaf Building in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.
Some of the $355,000 Funds seized in Nigerian romance and crypto investment fraud returned to Canadian victim — Toronto Police
The Nigerian man, Omonkhoa Precious Afure, who was allegedly behind the scam has been arrested pic.twitter.com/BZ7YXfJqlX
— Naija (@Naija_PR) December 10, 2024
Uwujaren further said that the luxury building housed a call center primarily targeting victims in the Americas and Europe. Staff at the center would reach out to individuals via social media and messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp and Instagram, to either seduce them online or entice them with seemingly lucrative investment opportunities.
Once the victims were lured in, they were coerced into transferring money for fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes and other fictitious projects.
“Nigerian accomplices were recruited by the foreign kingpins to prospect for victims online through phishing, targeting mostly Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and several others from European countries,” the EFCC spokesperson said.
“The Nigerians were trained to use fake profiles to engage victims on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram.”
He added:
“Once the Nigerians are able to win the confidence of would-be victims, the foreigners would take over the actual task of defrauding the victims.”
The EFCC investigations revealed the Nigerian accomplices were not provided with formal contracts or paid through corporate accounts; instead, payments were made in cash or through personal bank accounts.
“These foreigners took advantage of Nigeria’s reputation as a center for online fraud to conceal their criminal operations.”
He further emphasized that the arrests demonstrated that not all scams originating from Nigeria were perpetrated by Nigerians.
The Commission is working with international partners and will investigate possible connections to organized crime. During the raid, agents confiscated computers, phones, and vehicles.
In recent months, EFCC has stepped up law enforcement against illegal cryptocurrency operations within Nigeria.
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The ruling is the latest demonstration of the EFCC’s continued legal efforts to clamp down on unlicensed USDT-to-Naira transactionshttps://t.co/46P2ZarMK3 @officialEFCC pic.twitter.com/VH9ib7X2Pv
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) November 19, 2024
Earlier this month, the commission had obtained an order to freeze 5 bank accounts belonging to an alleged crypto scam collecting money from individuals to buy a crypto mining rig.
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“[The] investigation so far has revealed that the suspect did not use the funds for the intended purpose.” – @officialEFCC https://t.co/bhwLJ24Pxn pic.twitter.com/Tm1QBYuYAQ
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) December 3, 2024
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