The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday revealed a new wave of investment scams and fraudulent air ticket discount packages through which hundreds of Nigerians have been defrauded of billions of naira.
The anti-graft agency said the first syndicate of fraudsters deployed a fraudulent Airline Discount Scheme (ADS) to lure their victims, while the other is a company named Fred & Farid Investment Limited, or simply F&F Investment, which operated by luring Nigerians into a bogus investment arrangement.
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EFCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
Mr Wilson warned the public to be wary of sharing their personal identities to avoid falling victim to these scams. He also noted that these schemes are operated by foreign nationals with Nigerians as accomplices.
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Mr Uwujaren, who addressed journalists at EFCC’s headquarters in Abuja, said N18 billion was traced to F&F Investment Limited, while N600 million has been lost through the ADS, . He added that investigations showed that the schemes were being masterminded by foreign nationals.
This came less than a year after many Nigerians lost billions to the collapsed digital investment platform, Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), and a year after EFCC nabbed the largest cybercrime syndicate in Lagos.
The agency arrested 792 suspects, including foreign nationals, allegedly involved in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams.
The group reportedly comprised Chinese, Arab, and Filipino nationals, as well as their Nigerian counterparts. A similar trait shared among this group and EFCC’s latest disclosure is the recruitment of young Nigerians.
EFCC has yet to conclude investigations of the CBEX saga.
Mr Wilson, on Thursday, shed light on the ADS and F&F Investment Scheme’s mode of operation.
ADS activities
He said investigations showed over 900 Nigerians had already fallen victims these schemes, and more than 700 victims had lost their money to the ADS.
According to Mr Uwujaren, the ADS involved the advertisement of a discount system in the purchase of flight tickets of a particular foreign carrier. He said after unsuspecting victims made payments, their entire funds in their bank accounts were emptied.
Thereafter, “the payment model is designed in such a way that the victims will be convinced that the payment is actually made into the account of the airline,” he said.
After making the payment, the accounts of the victims were usually wiped off.
EFCC said it discovered that had already lost cummulative N651.9 milllion (N651,900,755) to the scheme.
However, he revealed that EFCC had recovered and refunded N33 million to victims of the fraud.
Mr Uwujaren said the scheme is run by a foreign national, whose name he withheld due to ongoing investigations. He said masterminds of the scheme recruited young Nigerians and furnished them with a laptop and special software to purchase accounts of their victims.
F&F Investment scam
He also disclosed that the Fred & Farid Investment Ltd is a pyramid scheme which has raked in over N18 billion (N18, 088,901,272) through nine companies, including Credio Banco Ltd., Deliberty Rock Ltd., Leam Chumex Global Service, Evoke Egania Technology, Icons Autos, and Import Merchant.
The rest are New Pace Technologies Services Ltd., PrimeParkways Ventures Ltd., Kakam Synergy Network Ltd., and Sunlight TechOps Services Ltd, Mr Wislon said.
He also said more than 200,000 individuals had fallen victim to the F&F investment scheme. According to him, the victims were lured into a bogus investment arrangement. Investigations into the F & F Investment scheme led the anti-graft agency to uncover over N18 billion proceeds of crime.
The money is usually laundered through crypto wallets, according to the EFCC.
The acting Director, Abuja Zonal Directorate EFCC, Michael Wetcas, explaining the modus operandi of the fraudsters, said sometimes the fraudsters visited villages to get the personal identities of naive persons as a disguise to open accounts.
However, the masterminds behind the scheme are on the run, the EFCC said. The officials withheld their identities.
N162 billion passed through new generation bank
In an effort to curb these scams, Mr Uwujaren called on financial institutions to ensure due diligence in banking procedures. He stated that during investigations, they discovered that more than “N162 billion passed through a new generation bank without any due diligence.”
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“A new generation bank and six fintechs and microfinance banks are involved in this (F&F investment scheme). The financial institutions clearly compromised banking procedures, and allowed the investors to safely change their proceeds into digital assets, and move them to safe destinations,” the official said.
Similarly, the names of the bank and fintechs were not mentioned due to ongoing investigations. But he described the loopholes in the financial institutions as worrisome.
“Investigation also showed that a single customer maintained 960 accounts in another bank. And all those accounts were used for fraudulent purposes. This, as far as we are concerned, is a flagrant disregard for due process in the banking sector,” Mr Uwujaren said.
He echoed EFCC’s call on all regulators to ensure compulsory compliance with regulations and the filing of suspicious transactions reports. Mr Uwujaren noted that financial institutions that defaulted should be suspended and referred to the EFCC for investigation and possible prosecution.
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