The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has said that internet fraudsters, commonly known as yahoo-yahoo boys, are bringing ‘national shame’ to Nigeria.
Speaking during a media briefing on Monday at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, Olukoyede lamented that many Nigerians now face suspicion and extra scrutiny at international borders due to the negative reputation created by these fraudsters.
“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,” he said.
Olukoyede added that the situation has also made his international engagements challenging, especially when tracing stolen funds and recovering assets.
“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.
The EFCC boss expressed growing concerns that many of these fraudsters have moved beyond online scams into more dangerous crimes such as kidnapping, banditry, ritual killings, and laundering money for politically exposed persons.
“The most dangerous part is that it’s no longer just about yahoo-yahoo. Some of these guys are into in banditry, kidnapping, and ritual killings. 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,” he stated.
Olukoyede explained that corrupt politicians often use these fraudsters to clean stolen funds.
“When politicians 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.”
He cited a recent case where a 22-year-old suspect, who had never held a job, handled transactions worth over N5 billion within just 18 months, laundering funds for top politicians.
“Nigerians need to stop seeing them as just yahoo-yahoo boys. 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?” he asked.
