EFCC Arrests 193 Foreigners, 599 Others Over Alleged Crypto Fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has announced that it had arrested 792 suspected internet fraudsters during a major sting operation in Lagos.

Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC Director of Information, made this information public at a Press Conference in Lagos.

He said the suspects, including 148 Chinese nationals, were apprehended at a seven-storey building at 7 Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Uwujaren also stated that the group included 40 Filipinos, two Kazakhs, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian.

He claimed that the foreign suspects were training their Nigerian accomplices on how to carry out romance and investment scams while also using the Nigerians’ identities to facilitate their criminal activities.

The EFCC spokesperson stated that these arrests followed credible intelligence regarding their alleged internet fraud activities after several days of surveillance in the area.

Uwujaren also maintained that the Commission discovered from the arrest that the notion that Nigerians are behind the tonnes of fraud emanating from our country is incorrect.

He also insisted that foreigners are taking advantage of Nigeria’s unfortunate reputation as a haven of frauds to establish a foothold in the country to disguise their atrocious criminal enterprises.

He stressed that the suspects are currently being held with a valid remand warrant obtained from the court and will be arraigned in court in the coming days.

Uwujaren said, “The foreign kingpins recruited Their Nigerian accomplices to prospect for victims online through phishing, mainly targeting 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 into 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.