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EFCC Bursts Syndicate of 792 Cryptocurrency Investment, Romance Fraud Suspects in Lagos
… Arrests 193 Chinese, Arabs, Filipinos, Others
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed that the Commission, in a landmark raid, arrested 792 suspects for their alleged involvement in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scam.
The suspects were apprehended on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, in a surprise operation at their hideout, an imposing seven-storey edifice known as Big Leaf Building, on No.7, Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos , following verifiable intelligence received by the Commission .
Speaking during a media briefing on Monday, December 16, 2024, at the Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Commission, Olukoyede stated that 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kharzartans, one Pakistani, one Indonesian were arrested during the operation.
The EFCC’s boss, who spoke though the Director, Public Affairs, EFCC, Commander of the EFCC, CEWilson Uwujaren, further stated that the foreign nationals used the facility, which could be mistaken for a corporate headquarters of a financial establishment, to train their Nigerian accomplices on how to initiate romance and investment scams and also used the identities of their Nigerian accomplices to perpetrate their criminal activities.
According to him, “All the floors are equipped with high-end desktop computers. On the 5th floor alone, investigators recovered 500 SIM cards of local telcos that were bought for criminal purposes.
“ Their 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.
“They usually arm them with desktop computers and mobile devices and create fake profiles for them.
“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.”
While giving further details about the modus operandi of the syndicate, the EFCC Chair said the Nigerian accomplices, who are assigned WhatsApp accounts linked to foreign telephone numbers, especially from Germany and Italy, engage victims in romantic conversations as well as phantom business and investment discussions to trick them to shop on the purported online investment shopping platform called www.yooto.com.
He added: “For those who show interest, activation fees for an account on the platform starts from $35USD.
“Investigation revealed that the criterion for recruiting these young Nigerians is proficiency in the use of computers, especially typing skill. Those who passed the test are given desktop computers and mobile devices and then taken through a two-week induction on how to personate foreign females in romance scam chats and convince victims to invest in their employers’ cryptocurrency investment scam.
“Once the Nigerians are able to win the confidence of would-be victims, the foreigners would take over the actual task of defrauding the victims and proceed to block their Nigerian accomplices from the network. This would then leave them in the dark about the transaction.”
He, however, said the Nigerians involved in the alleged fraudulent activities “do not know the owners of the ‘company’ they work for because they are not offered letters of appointments or receive payment from a corporate account.”
According to him, the suspected Nigerian accomplices are usually paid either in cash or through an individual’s account.
Olukoyede said the Commission was working with its foreign partners to establish the extent of the scam and the accomplices as well as the likelihood of any collaboration with organized international fraud cells.
The EFCC Chair also used the occasion to debunk the notion that Nigerians are behind the tonnes of frauds emanating from the country.
“Foreigners are taking advantage of our nation’s unfortunate reputation as a haven of frauds to establish a foothold here to disguise their atrocious criminal enterprises. But, as this operation has shown, there will be no hiding places for criminals in Nigeria,”he said.
Also speaking during the occasion , the acting Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Commission, Michael Wetkas, sought greater collaboration with the media in the fight against corruption and economic and financial crimes.
Items recovered from the suspects include desktop computers, mobile phones, laptop computers and cars at the point of arrest.
The suspects will be charged to court after investigations are concluded.
Viral Gist
His first coming was like a lamb…
He was slaughtered.
So his 2nd coming is as a Lion – he will slaughter them -Charles Awuzie Analysis on Donald Trump
While I may have fundamental differences with Donald Trump as a person, but I am open minded to learn from his intentionality.
The problem I have with humans is bias – if they love Kamala then everything about Trump must be evil. And if they love Trump, anyone who disagrees with him is antichrist. The same applies to those who love Tinubu but think Obi is a scam and those who love Obi but sees nothing good in Tinubu – just low vibration, low frequency human consciousness – symptom of an ‘Unstretched’ Mind.
There are very few humans who are conscious of their own bias and are genuinely making efforts to KEEP AN OPEN MIND. These ones have STRETCHED their minds.
I have learnt so much from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his political moves.
I have learnt also from President Donald Trump.
I have learnt from the Holy Koran just as I have learned from the Holy Bible.
And That’s how I maintain a constant flow of inspiration – by keeping an open mind.
Trump’s intentional use of Crypto, Religion and Nationalism is worth studying.
Crypto is the modern financial culture – it’s a cult.
Religion is an ancient universal culture – it’s a cult.
Nationalism excludes people who are not from your nation while placing your nation first – it’s a cult.
This cult strategy wins every time if well executed.
If you want to win an election in your country, align with the ideals of the majority. If they want to deport all immigrants, champion it even if your wife and biggest donors are both immigrants.
Politics is a mind game. If you don’t understand this, you are still a baby. The difference between a smiling Trump and a frowning Trump is Mind Game. Your mind will effortlessly liken him to the lamb and Lion branding of Jesus.
Good morning!
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Ladies beware of this man. He tricked me that he’ll divorce his wife & marry me not knowing they’re all fat lies!
I met this guy in 2022. I thought he was genuine & i fell for his looks not knowing that he is Lucifer’s twin brother who dresses in suit & tie. We dated for 3yrs but, he never took me to his house. He claims to be married with 2 kids but unhappy & also convinced me that he was no longer interested in his wife, promising to divorce her to be with me
He claims his parents pressurized him to marry the girl & after 4 yrs he’s fed up with the marriage & wants a divorce because he’s not happy in the marriage. I took him for his word after he successfully convincing me I’m the one that he truly loves & wanted to be with, promising to marry me as soon as the divorce proceedings with his wife was over, i believed him. During this time, I became pregnant with his child, & we now have a one-year-old daughter.
However, I’ve since discovered that he never initiated any divorce proceedings. Instead, he’s been using me emotionally & financially. instead of him giving me money like a man will normally do for the woman he claims to love, he has been collecting money from me. His latest excuse is that he doesn’t want to marry a woman with children from previous relationships. Gerald, so after 2 yrs you just realized that I’m a baby mama of 2 kids from different relationships!!? After using me all this time. I swrr Gerald, my God will surely Ponizh you!!
Ladies, plz beware of this guy, i want to xp0z h!m so others wouldn’t fall for his lies. pls, don’t fall for this guy. he’s even cute for nothing, he’s not even good in bed, a 2 minute man who wines his waste like an old grandmother who is sick of waist pain & on top of that, a fat l!år & a big ch!tt! plz help me xp0z this guy, he’s full names are Chanfe Gerald ike, he works as a traveling consultant”
UNIVERSITY of Zambia student’s quest to become a doctor has been temporarily halted after he was together with his ‘business’ partner for stealing phones from six students.
The student, Mike Musonda, 26, and his co-accused Equinox Tembo,24, unemployed, were jailed three years imprisonment with hard labour for stealing six phones valued at more than K14,000.
Musonda and Tembo appeared in court last week charged with six counts of theft, offences committed between August 1 and October 31, 2024.
Between the same dates, the duo stole a samsung galaxy M34 worth K4,500 from Grace Chanda, while in the second count, the accused stole an Iphone 6 worth K2,000 from Beatrice Mutale.
Accusations in the third count are that the accused stole a Huawei Pic Lite with K2,500 from Natasha Nyawa and that in the fourth count, the duo also stole an Itel S23 phone worth K2,500 from Catherine Chipasha.
In count five, the accused stole an Itel KB7 worth K2,600 from Dorcas Moyo and later stole a Techno pop 6 valued at K,1,800, the property of Mishel Siwale, in respect of the last count.
The both admitted the charges before Lusaka magistrate Amy Masoja-Chilangwa and told the court they had no claim to right to the phones.
Evidence is that during the material times, the first complaint, Ms Chanda, an UNZA student, was on her way to campus when she met Musonda, who introduced himself as an entrepreneur.
Musonda, who informed Ms Chanda that he was looking for people to ‘work’ with, later introduced her to Tembo, while at UNZA campus.
At the time, Ms Chanda had called her friend Beatrice Mutale informing her about a ‘job’ the two gentlemen were offering.
The accused later told Ms Chanda and Ms Mutale that they needed to capture their details so that they could give them identity cards for the ‘job’.
The accused then got a Samsung and an iPhone phone from the ladies on the pretext that they would get some details from the gadgets.
Musonda left with the phones leaving behind Tembo with the ladies before the latter also excused himself claiming that he wanted to use the toilet before he disappeared.
After realizing that they had been duped, the two ladies rushed to the university main entrance to alert security.
On the way, the duo met Tembo who then fled before the ladies ,security guards and other students pursued him while shouting thief.
After being apprehended, Tembo led security guards to the apprehension of Musonda before the duo was taken to Kalundu Police Post.
When news of the detention of the duo spread through campus, other affected students emerged and reported that their phones were equally stolen in a similar manner.
The affected victims went to Kalundu Police Station and gave their statements and positively identify the accused as the ones who stole their phones, which were not recovered.
In mitigation, Musonda, a medical student, asked for forgiveness because he had learnt a lesson while in remand
I’ve seen how much my friends are in pain because they now know that freedom is important. I’ve lost my sister and I am the first born. If I go for a long time, my family will be in pain” he said.
The convict said his conduct was motivated by joining bad company saying “It’s just that the friends I met made me start doing bad things’,” Musonda said.
The court heard that Musonda is a third year student but never wrote exams.
“So, instead of studying you were duping people” the magistrate said.
On his part, Tembo equally asked for leniency, pledging never to re-offend because “I am not supposed to do bad things. I want to go back to school. I want to rewrite biology”.
“You want to join him(Musonda) after rewriting biology,” the magistrate queried.
The magistrate observed that the convicts were not fully remorseful for stealing students phones, which carry vital information.
She sentenced them to three years imprisonment each.
