Nigerian authorities arrest nearly 800 over crypto romance scams

The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had local authorities arrest nearly 800 people amid investigations into local crypto romance scam operations.

In a recent EFCC announcement, the regulator’s Executive Chairman Ola Olukoyede explained that the operation led to the arrest of 792 suspects allegedly involved in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams on Tuesday. The arrests were part of a sting operation in a seven-story building that purportedly served as a crime den.

Per the report, the building could be mistaken for the headquarters of a financial corporation and served as training grounds for Nigerian scammers. Olukoyede said:

“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.”

Among the arrests, 148 are Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, one Pakistani and one Indonesian. According to the regulator, those people were responsible for administering the scheme and training Nigerian recruits.

Once Nigerian foot soldiers were able to gain the trust of a victim, they reportedly gave access to them over to foreign operators who would carry out the last stages of the scam. This also prevented local criminals from learning the details of the transactions.

The operation was also conducted on a particularly large scale, with 500 SIM cards being recovered by agents on the fifth floor alone. Many of the alleged scammers working in the building were assigned “high-end desktop computers” as well as foreign phone numbers, mostly German and Italian. Olukoyede highlighted that the operation aims to address the nation’s perception as a scam haven:

“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.”

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