It was an unlucky day for over 792 internet fraudsters popularly known as yahoo boys, and an enormous catch for the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as they made their highest number of arrest in a day.
The raid took place in Victoria Island, Lagos State, in a seven-storey building according to the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, while speaking in a press conference on Monday December 16.
Among the 792 apprehended suspects, 114 were Chinese citizens, 40 were from the Philippines, two were of Khazartan origins, with one Indonesian and a Pakistani.
The foreigners according to Uwujeran used the seven-story building to train willing Nigerians on how to initiate romance scams and cryptocurrency investment scams, by creating fake profiles for their Nigerian trainees to use and practice these scams.
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They accoutered the building with “high-end” desktop computers, and also arm the Nigerians with mobile devices, and create fake profiles for them.
While speaking, the spokesperson stated that the “foreign kingpins” recruited “their Nigerian accomplices” to prospect for victims online through “phishing”, where Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, and European residents are their major targets.
“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,” Uwujaren said.
“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,” the EFCC spokesperson added.
Over 500 sim cards of Nigerian telecommunications operators is said to have been recovered, while the suspects are being held in custody with valid remand warrant, they will be charged to court soon.
