The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has raised alarm over the infiltration of Nigerian cities by organized foreign fraud syndicates, warning that they are recruiting young Nigerians into large-scale cybercrime, including cryptocurrency fraud.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, February 26, during a visit by participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC 18) from the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), Olukoyede disclosed that recent EFCC operations uncovered criminal cells operated by foreigners in Nigeria.
“In a special operation in Lagos, we arrested 194 foreigners—including Chinese, Filipinos, Eastern Europeans, and Tunisians—engaged in fraudulent financial activities, mostly through cryptocurrency. Some of them had no valid visas, while others were ex-convicts who fled their home countries and found refuge in Africa,” he revealed.
He further expressed concern over the potential use of cryptocurrency for illegal arms importation, highlighting the link between financial crimes and Nigeria’s broader security challenges, including banditry and insurgency.
Olukoyede emphasized the need for a coordinated national and continental response to combat foreign-led cybercrime and money laundering, urging Nigerian security and intelligence agencies to collaborate in dismantling these criminal networks.
The visit by the NISS delegation, led by Director of Studies Hyginus Ngele, focused on the role of non-state actors in security threats across Africa. NISS Commandant Joseph Obule Odama commended the EFCC’s efforts in exposing financial networks that fund criminal activities, stressing the importance of strengthening legal frameworks to curb illicit financial flows.
The session, moderated by EFCC Public Affairs Director CE Wilson Uwujaren, also featured insights from senior EFCC officials on the commission’s anti-corruption initiatives.
