By: Adeosun Ewatomi
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has carried out its largest single-day operation against cryptocurrency and romance scam networks, arresting 792 suspects in Lagos.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesperson, said the arrests took place at a seven-storey building in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Uwujaren said the suspects include 114 Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, two Khazartans, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian.
He said the foreigners were using the building to “train Nigerians on how to initiate romance and investment scams”.
The EFCC spokesperson added that the foreigners created fake profiles for their Nigerian accomplices to engage in romance and cryptocurrency scams.
Uwujaren said all the floors of the seven-storey building were equipped with “high-end” desktop computers, adding that over 500 sim cards of Nigerian telecommunications operators were recovered.
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,” Uwujaren said.
“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 starts from $35.Uwujaren said the suspects are being held in custody with valid remand warrant, adding that they will be arraigned soon.
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