The country intensifies the repression of online crooks, which attract the victims using romance promises to invest in false cryptocurrency investments.
Nigeria expelled 102 foreign nationals, including 60 Chinese and 39 people from the Philippines, who were found guilty of “cyber-terrorism and internet fraud”, according to the country’s anti-corruption agency.
The announcement of the Nigeria Economic and Financial Conception Commission (EFCC) comes on Thursday while the country intensifies a repression of online scam operations, which attracted victims through online novels to put money for false cryptocurrency investments.
EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale later told the AFP news agency that another group of 39 Philippins, 10 Chinese and two people from Kazakhstan had also been expelled since August 15.
Other deportations have also been scheduled in the coming days, he added.
The anti -corruption agency has published photos of Asian men with masks on the surgical face, aligned with airport registration counters.
The deportees were among the 792 alleged cybercriminals arrested in a single operation in the wealthy region of the island of Victoria in Lagos in December. At least 192 of those arrested were foreign nationals, including 148 Chinese, said the EFCC.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has the reputation of fraudsters on the Internet known in the local slang under the name of “Yahoo Boys”, and the EFCC broke out several hiding places where young crime suspects acquire online skills.
According to the agency, foreign gangs recruit Nigerian accomplices to find online victims through phishing scams. The attackers generally try to deceive the victims to transfer money or reveal sensitive information such as passwords.
Scams mainly target Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and Europeans, said EFCC.
Experts claim that the fraudulent investment programs used by cyber-sciers have become more and more sophisticated and dynamic because they take advantage of the latest technologies and digital tools.
The regimes ultimately leave the victims – many of which invest their savings, their commercial capital and their money borrowed – unable to do something other than to look at their money hard to disappear.
Experts also warn that “foreign cybercrime unions” have set up a store in Nigeria to exploit its low cybersecurity systems.
