A network of 792 individuals has been apprehended in Lagos, Nigeria's bustling metropolis. This mass arrest took place on December 16 and was made public by Ola Olukoyede, the Executive Chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The suspects, hailing from various nationalities such as 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kazakhstanis, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian, were seized on December 10 during a surprise operation at their hideout - the imposing Big Leaf Building on Victoria Island.

Foreigners Training Young Nigerians in Scam Tactics

In a press conference, Olukoyede shed light on the modus operandi. The suspects used this facility, which resembled a corporate headquarters, to train their Nigerian accomplices in romance and investment scams through phishing techniques. They also exploited the identities of these Nigerian accomplices to carry out their criminal activities. The network primarily targeted victims in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.Olukoyede detailed that all floors were equipped with high-end desktop computers. On the 5th floor alone, investigators discovered 500 SIM cards of local telcos bought for criminal purposes. The young Nigerians were selected based on their computer literacy and internet knowledge and underwent a two-week induction training. Foreign nationals armed them with devices and created fake profiles. Nigerian accomplices were provided with logs to access foreign communication lines and victims on platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram. They were assigned WhatsApp accounts linked to foreign numbers, especially from Germany and Italy, and engaged victims in romantic and business conversations to trick them into shopping on the purported online investment platform www[.]yooto[.]com. Activation fees for an account on this platform start from $35. The young Nigerian accomplices were paid either in cash or through individual accounts. Olukoyede emphasized that they likely had no knowledge of the company owners as they didn't receive appointment letters or payments from a corporate account."Foreigners are exploiting Nigeria's unfortunate reputation as a fraud haven to establish a foothold and disguise their criminal enterprises. But this operation shows that there will be no hiding places for criminals in our nation," he stated.The EFCC is collaborating with its partners to determine the extent of the scam, identify the accomplices, and assess the possibility of collaboration with international fraud groups.