The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has spoken out strongly against the growing influence and actions of internet fraudsters, commonly known as “Yahoo-Yahoo boys.”
Speaking during a media briefing held on Monday at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, Olukoyede stated that the activities of these young cybercriminals are bringing embarrassment and disgrace to Nigeria on the global stage.
He noted that the reputation of honest Nigerians is being damaged due to the bad image created by these fraudsters.
Sharing a personal observation, Olukoyede said that when Nigerians travel abroad, their green passports often raise suspicion among immigration officers because of the bad name internet scammers have brought to the country.
“I want Nigerians to know that we are having a crisis on our hands. If you travel abroad with your green passport and stand in the queue among so many people, you will discover that by the time you present the passport, the people (immigration officers) will look at you with some reservation. That is, if they don’t take you aside to carry out some special scrutiny. That is a national shame that some young Nigerians (yahoo-yahoo boys) have caused for us.
“I go out to interact with my counterpart and other government agencies abroad in the course of tracing money and recovering assets. And there are things that it would be difficult for you to defend. We recently arrested groups of young men, and people no longer believe in hard work. I’m from a state where education is our pride. If you go to the secondary school that I attended, by 12 noon, the students have left school,” he said.
Expounding further on the atrocities of the fraudsters, the EFCC chairman stressed that they are involved in banditry and kidnapping when their unsuspecting victims do not cooperate.
He also noted that they were involved in laundering money for politically-exposed persons in government or out of government.
“The most dangerous aspect of it is not just about yahoo-yahoo, some of these guys are into banditry, kidnapping. When they don’t see people to scam on time, they resort to these vices. Some of them launder money for politically exposed persons. Don’t just see them as yahoo-yahoo boys anymore; the traditional way of stealing money is not applicable anymore.
“When they (politically-exposed persons) steal money in billions, they give it to these boys, they open crypto wallets, and from there, the money goes abroad. Most of these politically exposed persons identify these boys, lodge them in the hotel, the boys open accounts for them and take the money abroad to buy cars, houses and other luxury items.
“Nigerians should look at them beyond just yahoo-yahoo. We arrested a 22-year-old; he had a turnover of over N5 billion within 18 months. We discovered that he laundered money for politically exposed people. A boy who has never worked in his life. They used them to steal government money now. They do ritual killings. They are also involved in cybercrime. You see them in hotels and in groups trying to scam people. You see secondary school students driving vehicles. Are those the people we want to hand Nigeria over to? Is that the nation we want to build?”
