How EFCC burst crime syndicate of Chinese, Philippinos, oda foreigners wey dey do 'yahoo yahoo' for Nigeria

Di Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for Nigeria don release details of how dem burst one ogbonge criminal group full of oyibo pipo wey dey do internet fraud, wey pipo sabi as 'yahoo yahoo', for di kontri.

EFCC Director of Communications Wilson Uwajuren give dis details on Monday for dia office for Lagos as e tok say dem arrest 792 suspects including 148 Chinese pipo, 40 Philippinos, two Kazakhstan pipo, one Indonesian and one Pakistan pesin.

Dis oyibo pipo dey recruit young Nigerians, train dem, give dem equipments like computers and smartphones, even open profiles for dem on top social media wey dem go dey use to dey do all kinds of fraud like romance scams, investment scams and cryptocurrency wayo, Uwajuren tell tori pipo.

"Dia headquarters na one big seven-storey building for No 7, Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, wey anybody go think say na di corporate headquarters of a financial institution," e tok.

"Di oyibo pipo go den dey use di identity of dia Nigerian recruits to dey do all dis criminal activities. Di job wey dem dey assign to di Nigerians na to engage in romantic conversations and phantom business and investment discussions to trick victims to shop on top one wuruwuru online shopping platform wey im name na www.yootoo.com."

Di anti-cooruption agency add say "once di Nigeria pesin dey able to win di confidence of would-be victims, di foreigners go take over di actual task of defrauding di victims and dem go block dia Nigerian accomplices from di network so e no go know wetin dey go on wit di transaction."

Di Nigerians wey dey involved for dis criminal syndicate no even know di real owner of di wuruwuru company as dem no get letters of appointments and dem no dey receive payment from a corporate account, di EFCC tok.

"Contrary to di belief say most of di cybercrimes for Nigeria na Nigerians dey do am, we don find out now say we get plenty plenty foreigners for dis kontri wey dey do dis crime," Uwajuren tok.

Chairman of di EFCC say dem go work wit dia foreing partners to find out di extent of di scam and to know weda dem get any collaboration wit oda international fraud cells.

According to di 2023 report of di Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), di amount of money wey pipo lose to fraud di kontri digital payment system, rise by 496% from N2.9 billion in 2019 to N17 billion in 2023.

Dis report show say mobile and web na di channels wey scammers dey use pass to defraud pipo.

Lagos State account for 48% of di total fraud cases reported and 49% of di total actual loss value.