EFCC Arrests 193 Foreigners, 599 Nigerians In Multi-Million Naira Crypto Fraud, Romance Scams

Ikeja, Lagos State- The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested 792 suspects, including 193 foreigners, in a surprise operation targeting a syndicate involved in scams.

The arrests, made on December 10, 2024, followed months of intelligence gathering and surveillance at a high-rise building on Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

EFCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, revealed that the operation led to the capture of 148 Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, and several other foreign nationals.

The suspects were found using a seemingly legitimate facility as a hub for training Nigerian accomplices in romance and investment fraud schemes targeting victims, primarily from the United States, Canada, and several European nations.

Investigators discovered that the foreign syndicate employed high-tech equipment, including over 500 SIM cards, to carry out their operations.

The scam involved phishing tactics and fake online profiles to defraud unsuspecting individuals of their funds.

According to Uwujaren, “The Nigerian accomplices are equally provided with logs that allow them access to foreign communication lines and victims, which they chat with on WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram.”

“They are also assigned WhatsApp accounts linked to foreign telephone numbers, especially from Germany and Italy.

He explained that their jobs are to engage victims in romantic conversations and phantom business and investment discussions to trick them to shop on the purported online investment shopping platform called www.yooto.com. For those who show interest, activation fees for an account on the platform starts from $35USD.

“Investigation revealed that the criterion for recruiting these young Nigerians is proficiency in the use of computers, especially typing skill. Those who passed the test are given desktop computers and mobile devices and then taken through a two-week induction on how to personate foreign females in romance scam chats and convince victims to invest in their employers’ Cryptocurrency investment scam.

He said, “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 and proceed to block their Nigerian accomplices from the network. This would then leave them in the dark about the transaction.

Uwujaren further explained that Nigerians do not know the owners of the ‘company’ they work for, as they neither get letters of appointments nor receive payment from a corporate account.

He said investigation revealed that they are paid either in cash or through an individual’s account.

“Further investigation is ongoing to establish the extent of the scam and the accomplices, including the likelihood of any collaboration with organized international fraud cells.

“The Commission is working closely with its foreign partners in this regard. Items recovered from the suspects include desktop computers, mobile phones, laptop computers, and cars,” he said.

Uwujaren said that the suspects have made statements, while their systems have also been screened. They are currently being held with a valid remand warrant and will be arraigned in court in the coming days.

“What is, however, clear from this arrest is that the notion that Nigerians are behind the tonnes of frauds emanating from our country is not correct. Foreigners are taking advantage of our nation’s unfortunate reputation as a haven of frauds to establish a foothold here to disguise their atrocious criminal enterprises.

“But, as this operation has shown, there will be no hiding places for criminals in Nigeria.”