In a wild twist straight out of a crime thriller, authorities have busted an elaborate scam operation that had foreign nationals teaming up with Nigerian recruits to dupe people worldwide in romance and investment scams. Picture this: Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) swooped in on December 10, nabbing a whopping 792 folks involved in a crypto-romance scam in the bustling city of Lagos.
Among those caught were 148 Chinese nationals, 40 Filipinos, and a medley of other international players. They were all rounded up in a jaw-dropping raid on a towering seven-story building ominously dubbed Big Leaf in the posh neighborhood of Victoria Island.
This takedown was the climax of a tip-off about Big Leaf being a hotbed for scams targeting victims globally. It turns out this operation was like a well-oiled machine, with foreign masterminds and local tech-savvy Nigerians working hand in glove, pulling off romance and investment hoaxes with panache.
The Nigerian recruits, handpicked for their computer wizardry, underwent a crash course on impersonating foreign women and buttering up victims with sweet talk about love and money. Armed with fake profiles on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram, they reeled in targets to invest in bogus crypto schemes on a site called Yooto[.]com. The catch? An activation fee starting at $35, with promises of sky-high returns.
Once the locals had their hooks in potential victims, they passed the baton to the foreign operatives to seal the deal. This crafty division of labor meant the Nigerian recruits had no idea about the bigger picture of their shady enterprise.
Authorities got their hands on a treasure trove of evidence, including over 500 SIM cards and top-of-the-line computers, tools presumably used to cloak their identities and target folks primarily from North America and Europe. The local recruits got paid in cash, leaving no paper trail to the brainiacs behind the operation, who are still on the loose.
The EFCC is now joining forces with international agencies to unravel the full scope of this cunning scheme and its possible ties to organized crime networks.
Crypto scams have been popping up like mushrooms lately. Take, for instance, a report from the Australian Cyber Security Centre which noted that Aussies have coughed up nearly $270 million to these fake investments. Meanwhile, in South Korea, 215 individuals were nabbed for masterminding a $232 million crypto swindle, including a YouTuber with over 600,000 followers who allegedly fronted a sham investment firm promising returns that would make your head spin.
And over in Hong Kong, police cracked down on a massive cross-border fraud ring that used deepfakes to lure unsuspecting men into dodgy crypto deals. This outfit, comprising at least 27 people, operated from a building in the city's Hung Hom district. When authorities stormed the place, they seized computers, mobile phones, and roughly $25,000 believed to be ill-gotten gains.
It seems like the crypto world is a magnet for scams, but with agencies hot on their trail, these fraudsters might just find themselves out of luck. Stay sharp and keep your wallet safe!
