The arrest of Nigeria’s 792 internet scammers

… this comes a few months after Zambia uncovered a similar sophisticated syndicate in April this year which led to the arrest of 77 people, including 22 Chinese.

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

IN a major operation aimed at tackling the growing danger of internet fraud in Nigeria, the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested 792 suspects last week.
This comes seven months after the Zambian authorities uncovered a sophisticated internet fraud syndicate, leading to the arrest of 77 people, including 22 Chinese.
It came after months of intelligence gathering by the agencies following an alarming rise in internet fraud cases in Zambia, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) Director General, Nason Banda said after the raid.
“During the operation, 11 Sim boxes were found – these are devices that can route calls in a way that bypasses legitimate phone networks. This enables them to be used “for fraudulent activities, including internet fraud and online scams,” Mr Banda said.
These two occurrences reveal the escalation of internet fraud across the world which has been as a result of the rising new technologies.
Additionally, the two incidences display the serious expansion of internet fraud and its negative impact on consumers and on the financial system.
Cybercrime syndicates are highly organised and sophisticated criminal groups that leverage cutting-edge technologies and exploit vulnerabilities in digital systems for financial gain or strategic advantage.
These groups often operate like well-oiled machines, with intricate hierarchies, specialised roles, and a global reach that defies traditional law enforcement jurisdictions.
In the case of Nigeria, the arrested persons were linked to cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams.
According to a report by Tedge News, this landmark raid took place in December at the Big Leaf Building, a seven-storey complex in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking during a press briefing on December 16, 2024, at the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Directorate, the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Ola Olukoyede, revealed details of the operation through the agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren.
Among the arrested individuals were 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian.
These foreign nationals allegedly masterminded the operation.
They used the facility as a training hub to coach their Nigerian accomplices in executing romance and investment scams.
Their targeted victims are primarily in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
This is similar to the Zambian case as evidence indicated people in countries including Singapore, Peru, the United Arab Emirates and others across Africa had been targeted.
Still on the Zambian case, the scammers had recruited “unsuspecting” Zambians aged between 20 and 25.
They had been tasked “with engaging in deceptive conversations with unsuspecting mobile users across various platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, chatrooms and others, using scripted dialogues.”
This is also similar to what happened in Nigeria as the foreign syndicate leaders provided their Nigerian recruits with computers, mobile devices, and fake profiles.
Their tasks is to lure unsuspecting victims via platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram.
According to the EFCC, each floor of the building was equipped with high-end desktop computers. Investigators recovered 500 SIM cards from local telcos on the fifth floor alone, which were reportedly used for phishing activities.
Logs granting access to foreign communication lines were also provided, enabling the Nigerians to impersonate foreign nationals effectively.
One of the key tools used to defraud victims was a sham online investment platform, www.yooto.com, where activation fees started at $35.
Nigerian accomplices were trained for two weeks to build trust with victims before handing them off to their foreign handlers.
These handlers would then finalise the scam and block the Nigerians from further access to the network.
After discussing these two similar developments, one can conclude that in the digital age, a new breed of criminal enterprise has emerged, one that operates in the shadows of the virtual world, wielding keyboards and malicious code as their weapons of choice.
These are the cybercrime syndicates, the modern-day mafias that have transcended geographic boundaries and traditional crime hierarchies, leaving a trail of financial ruin and compromised data in their wake.
As technology continues to interweave itself into every aspect of our lives, these wicked organisations pose an ever-increasing threat to individuals, businesses and even nations, demanding a concerted global response to combat their insidious activities.
Unlike their historical counterparts, the modern cybercrime syndicates are not bound by physical borders or constrained by the limitations of traditional criminal operations.