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The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently arrested 792 suspects involved in crypto romance scams.
Scams Traced to Foreign Kingpins
The Nigerian anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), recently arrested 792 suspects implicated in crypto romance scams. The arrests followed a raid on a building believed to be a hub for fraudsters who lured victims into investing in bogus cryptocurrency projects.
Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesman, said 148 of the suspects are Chinese citizens and 40 are Filipino nationals. According to a Reuters report, the gang operated from a luxury building in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos. U.S. and European citizens were among the targeted nationals. During the raid, EFCC agents seized computers, phones, and vehicles.
“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,” the EFCC spokesperson said.
He added that after gaining the victims’ confidence, the Nigerian suspects would hand them over to their foreign counterparts, who then carried out the fraud part of the scam. Uwujaren also disclosed that the EFCC is collaborating with international partners and is looking into potential links to organized crime.
Reports of the EFCC’s arrest of the 792 suspects come days after it detained a Nigerian man accused of defrauding 139 Australians of $5.04 million (AUD $8 million) in an elaborate cryptocurrency scam. The man, Osang Otukpa, is said to have used five aliases and allegedly lured victims via social media to invest in a fraudulent cryptocurrency platform called Liquid Asset Group.
Otukpa’s luck finally ran out on Dec. 6, when agents apprehended him soon after he landed at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. According to a Punch report, Otukpa will be charged once the EFCC concludes its investigations.