The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised concerns over the increasing presence of foreign fraud syndicates in Nigeria, warning that these groups are establishing criminal cells in Nigerian cities and recruiting youths into organized cybercrime, including cryptocurrency fraud.
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, made this revelation while addressing participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 18 from the National Institute for Security Studies in Abuja on Wednesday.
The delegation was led by the institute’s Director of Studies, Hyginus Ngele, to the EFCC headquarters.
In a statement issued on Thursday by EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, Olukoyede also expressed concern over how bandits and insurgents have been able to sustain their operations over the years, hinting at potential links to cyber-financial crimes.
The EFCC is now intensifying efforts to curb the expansion of organized digital fraud networks and protect Nigeria’s financial system.
He noted with concern the rate of flow of small arms and light weapons across the borders and the involvement of non-state actors in the illegal exploitation of minerals in parts of the country.
The EFCC boss said all these activities compounded the threats in the security landscape.
“Another dimension that is not given attention is the discovery, recently, that organised foreign fraud syndicates are establishing cells in Nigerian cities.
”They are recruiting young Nigerians into serious organised cybercrimes, including cryptocurrency fraud.
”By virtue of the EFCC’s recent discovery, we are beginning to see the likelihood and the propensity that a lot of these people are into illegal importation of arms into the country using cryptocurrency as a means of payment,” Mr Olukoyede said.
According to him, this is an area that must interest all of us.