The Executive Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the
Commission, in a landmark raid, arrested 792 suspects for their
alleged involvement in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scam.
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 , following verifiable intelligence received by the
Commission .
Speaking during a media briefing on Monday, December
16, 2024, at the Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Commission,
Olukoyede stated that 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, one
Pakistani, one Indonesian were arrested during the operation.
The EFCC’s boss, who spoke though the Director,
Public Affairs, EFCC, Commander of the EFCC, CEWilson Uwujaren, further
stated that the foreign nationals used the facility, 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 used the identities of their Nigerian accomplices to perpetrate their
criminal activities.
According to him, “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.”
While giving further details about the modus
operandi of the syndicate, the EFCC Chair said the Nigerian accomplices, who
are assigned WhatsApp accounts linked to foreign telephone numbers, especially
from Germany and Italy, engage victims in romantic conversations as well as
phantom business and investment discussions to trick them to shop on the
purported online investment shopping platform called www.yooto.com.
He added: “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.”
He, however, said the Nigerians involved in the
alleged fraudulent activities “do not know the owners of the 'company' they
work for because they are not offered letters of appointments or receive
payment from a corporate account.”
According to him, the suspected Nigerian
accomplices are usually paid either in cash or through an individual's account.
Olukoyede said the Commission was working with its
foregoing partners to establish the extent of the scam and the accomplices as
well as the likelihood of any collaboration with organized international fraud
cells.
The EFCC Chair also used the occasion to debunk the
notion that Nigerians are behind the tonnes of frauds emanating from the
country.
“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,”he said.
Also speaking during the occasion , the acting Zonal
Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Commission, Michael Wetkas, sought
greater collaboration with the media in the fight against corruption and
economic and financial crimes.
Items recovered from the suspects include desktop
computers, mobile phones, laptop computers and cars at the point of arrest.
The suspects will be charged to court after
investigations are concluded.
Comments:
Leave a Reply