According to Mr. Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), organized foreign fraud syndicates are setting up cells in Nigerian cities and enlisting young people in serious organized cybercrimes, such as cryptocurrency fraud.
EFCC Spokesperson Dele Oyewale said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
He explained that Olukoyede said this while receiving participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 18 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the team was led by the institute’s director of studies, Hyginus Ngele, to the commission.
Olukoyede expressed surprise at how bandits and insurgents were able to sustain their activities in the country over the years.
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 organized foreign fraud syndicates are establishing cells in Nigerian cities.
”They are recruiting young Nigerians into serious organized cybercrimes, including cryptocurrency fraud.
”By the virtue of EFCC’s recent discovery, we are beginning to see the likelihood, the propensity, that a lot of these people are into illegal importation of arms into the country using cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
According to him, this is an area that must interest all of us. “In the special operations we carried out in Lagos recently, we arrested 194 foreigners in the heart of Victoria Island.