Lekki, Lagos now headquarters of Internet fraud – EFCC

Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), has said that Lekki, the fast-developing upper middle-class area of the Lagos metropolis, is emerging as the new hub of Internet scammers.

This was contained in an statement, on Friday, by the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, titled, ‘Lekki, now a hotbed of cybercrime.’

The Commission said it arrested 402 suspected Internet fraudsters in Lekki between April and June 2021, noting that 64% of the suspects benefitted from dating scams to the tune of N8, 310,000; $349,290; £900; €10 and Cryptocurrency, 0.17513.

According to the Commission, Ajah accounted for 24 suspects, while Oniru and Sangotedo had 14 and 13 suspects, respectively, adding that Badore had eight suspects while the neighbouring Ikoyi and Eko Atlantic had two and one suspects each.

Ikorodu and Alagbado on the Lagos Mainland make up the remainder.

The statement said, “The suspects are mostly millennials, with 82 of them aged between 25-34 years, which speaks to the fact that most of the individuals arrested are either still in school, recent graduates or university dropouts.

Other types of fraud identified include forgery, possession of fraudulent documents, spamming, credit card fraud, impersonation, rental scam, loan fraud, business e-mail compromise, hacking, stealing, cheque scam, phishing, and money laundering.

The data also reveals gift cards, at 39%, as the prevalent method employed by the suspects to access their illicit funds, followed by bank transfers, at 27%, and crypto-currency at 21%.

“A total of $12,512.49 was recovered from the e-wallet accounts of four suspects within the period”, Uwujaren stated.

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