THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced a landmark arrest of a total number of 792 suspects for offences bordering on cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scam.
EFCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, who briefed journalists at the commission’s office in Lagos on Monday said the suspects were apprehended on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, in a surprise operation at their hideout, an imposing seven-storey edifice known as Big Leaf Building, on No.7, Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Uwujaren said, “The breakthrough followed actionable intelligence and months of surveillance and monitoring the activities of the syndicate.Among the foreigners arrested are 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, one Pakistani, one Indonesian”
“Investigation established that the foreign nationals use the facility at 7, Oyin Jolayemi Street, which could be mistaken for a corporate headquarters of a financial establishment to train their Nigerian accomplices on how to initiate romance and investment scams and also use the identitiesof Nigerians to perpetrate their criminal activities.”
He said, “All the floors are equipped with high-end desktop computers. On the 5th floor alone, investigators recovered 500 SIM cards of local telcos that were bought for criminal purposes.
“Their 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.
“They usually arm them with desktop computers and mobile devices and create fake profiles for them.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“Surprisingly, the 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. 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.
“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.”