₦airaland Forum

… Arrests 193 Chinese, Arabs, Filipinos, Others

The Executive Chairman  of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the Commission, in a landmark raid,  arrested 792 suspects  for their alleged involvement in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scam.

The suspects were apprehended on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, in a surprise operation at their hideout, an imposing seven-storey edifice known as Big Leaf Building, on No.7, Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, following verifiable intelligence received by the Commission .

Speaking during a media briefing on Monday, December 16, 2024, at the Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Commission, Olukoyede stated that 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, one Pakistani, one Indonesian were arrested during the operation.

The EFCC’s boss, who spoke though the Director, Public Affairs, EFCC, Commander of the EFCC, CE Wilson Uwujaren, further stated that the foreign nationals used the facility, which could be mistaken for a corporate headquarters of a financial establishment, to train their Nigerian accomplices on how to initiate romance and investment scams and also used the identities of their Nigerian accomplices to perpetrate their criminal activities.

According to him, “All the floors are equipped with high-end desktop computers. On the 5th floor alone, investigators recovered 500 SIM cards of local telcos that were bought for criminal purposes.

“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.

“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.”

While giving  further details about the modus operandi of the syndicate, the EFCC Chair said the Nigerian accomplices, who are assigned WhatsApp accounts linked to foreign telephone numbers, especially from Germany and Italy, engage victims in romantic conversations as well as phantom business and investment discussions to trick them to shop on the purported online investment shopping platform called yooto.com.

He added: “For those who show interest, activation fees for an account on the platform starts from $35USD.

“Investigation revealed that the criterion for recruiting these young Nigerians is proficiency in the use of computers, especially typing skill. Those who passed the test are given desktop computers and mobile devices and then taken through a two-week induction on how to personate foreign females in romance scam chats and convince victims to invest in their employers' cryptocurrency investment scam.

“Once the Nigerians are able to win the confidence of would-be victims, the foreigners would take over the actual task of defrauding the victims and proceed to block their Nigerian accomplices from the network. This would then leave them in the dark about the transaction.”

He, however, said the Nigerians involved in the alleged fraudulent activities “do not know the owners of the 'company' they work for because they are not offered letters of appointments or receive payment from a corporate account.”

According to him, the  suspected Nigerian accomplices are usually paid either in cash or through an individual's account.

Olukoyede said the Commission was working with its foregoing partners to establish the extent of the scam and the accomplices as well as the likelihood of any collaboration with organized international fraud cells.

The EFCC Chair also used the occasion to debunk the notion that Nigerians are behind the tonnes of frauds emanating from the country.

“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,”he said.

Also speaking during the occasion, the acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Commission, Michael Wetkas, sought greater collaboration with the media in the fight against  corruption and economic and financial crimes.

Items recovered from the suspects include desktop computers, mobile phones, laptop computers and cars at the point of arrest.

The suspects will be charged to court after investigations are concluded.

SalamRushdie:
But yooto is a known online fashion store ..I hope it's not a a customer support agency creating jobs for Nigerians that have been busted like this

BlueRayDick:
So this was why EFCC blocked off the entire Oyin Jolayemi street last week ( I can’t remember if it was Monday or Tuesday ) ?

It was a complete mess that day , they caused a massive traffic for every law abiding Nigerians that day around office closing hours . Anybody in V.I that day would remember how terrible the traffic was and how people were stranded .

I really don’t understand why our security agencies must create one problem while trying to solve another one. They literally prevented anybody from accessing Oyin Jolayemi street with a vehicle by parking vans at the beginning of the street and had to force everybody to pass alternative routes that were quite narrow and overflowing traffic .

yoruboid:
Even in the US, policemen create scenes and cordon roads when making arrest of just one criminal

How much more 792? We must give it to them. It’s a job well done by the EFCC

BlueRayDick:
I’m not giving anything to them.

If u know the street , u will know blocking off the street was totally unnecessary. The people they arrested are inside just one building ; all they needed was march them down from the building to their vehicles parked beside the building .

Blocking off the entire street and preventing other road users from using the road makes absolute no sense during closing hours . That singular act caused serious spiraling traffic all over V.I that day .

They can effect the arrests without creating a scene .

yoruboid:
I grew up three streets away and also worked with GTBank when Plural House was the head office so you can’t tell me what Oyin Jolayemi is like

They arrested 792 people and you didn’t think they would block off a road that is just a single carriage flowing in just one direction?

I’ve seen policemen do worse in New York which is way busier. By the way, you could have walked up to them to complain while the operation was on, instead of ranting here na

zebszebs:
Knowing how incompetent Nigerian intelligence agencies are, I won't be surprised if this was a bungled operation and that this is a legit establishment.

The EFCC wants me to believe that some daredevil Chinese left China to establish a HK in Nigeria.

They didn't go to Ukraine or North Korea, or Philippines where there are badass hackers; they chose Nigeria with no electricity, shitty Internet, and semi-illiterate citizenry?why are you people like this, they caught criminals and you are in you bedroom making analysis, which kind of humans are people abeg

No way!!!,

I want to hear from the arrested foreign nationals before I believe this cock and bull story

yoruboid:
I grew up three streets away and also worked with GTBank when Plural House was the head office so you can’t tell me what Oyin Jolayemi is like

They arrested 792 people and you didn’t think they would block off a road that is just a single carriage flowing in just one direction?

I’ve seen policemen do worse in New York which is way busier. By the way, you could have walked up to them to complain while the operation was on, instead of ranting here na