On Monday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced its largest single-day operation against cryptocurrency and romance scam networks, arresting 792 suspects in Lagos.
According to the anti-graft agency, the operation targeted a seven-storey building in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Announcing the arrest, the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren said the building was being used by foreign nationals to train Nigerians in carrying out romance and cryptocurrency scams.
The arrested persons included 114 Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, two Khazartans, one Pakistani and one Indonesian.
The foreign scammers allegedly created fake profiles and provided their Nigerian collaborators with tools to target victims primarily from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
“They used desktop computers and mobile devices to engage victims in romantic conversations and fraudulent investment discussions on platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram.”
“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 start from $35,” the EFCC spokesman informed journalists at a news conference on Monday.”
This arrest comes weeks after the International Police (Interpol), in collaboration with other security agencies, nabbed 1,006 cybercrime suspects in Nigeria and other countries, including Kenya and Algeria, among others.
