Nigeria has sent back 102 foreign nationals who were involved in cyber-terrorism and committed fraud through the internet, among them 60 Chinese and 39 Filipino citizens.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of the country announced further deportation of 39 Filipinos, 10 Chinese, and two Kazakhs next to scheduled deportations after August 15.
The people who were deported ran romance scam networks that peddled victims fake online relationships and then persuaded them to invest in bogus cryptocurrency platforms.
These groups mainly concentrated their activities on Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, and Europeans by implementing deceitful phishing schemes to make money and acquire sensitive data.
These foreign nationals were arrested during a big operation in Victoria Island, Lagos in December, authorities detained 792 suspected cyber criminals. The operation was one of the biggest raids by Nigerian authorities against cybercrime with 192 foreign nationals were among the arrested including 148 Chinese citizens.
Nevertheless, Nigeria is a country with persistent problems of cybercrimes, the fraudsters who commit internet scams locally known as “Yahoo Boys” have become popular. Foreign cybercrime criminals have set up operations in the country to take advantage of weak security systems and poor digital infrastructure.
The scam of romance has been made more complicated as it now also uses the emotional side of the victim and the fake investment has different stages of engagement. Most of the victims lose their savings, business capital, and borrowed money to these scams.
The sending back is a representation of the enlarged enforcement in Nigeria against the international cybercrime networks. The EFCC has increased collaboration with global law enforcement while continuing to investigate remaining suspects and prosecute Nigerian accomplices who assisted foreign-led criminal operations.
