The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has provided details on how Chinese nationals are enlisting tech-savvy Nigerians to defraud victims, primarily in the United Kingdom.
This revelation follows a successful operation by EFCC agents on Thursday, January 9, 2025, targeting a group involved in a hotel review job scam.
Acting on intelligence about emerging internet crimes involving foreign nationals, operatives dismantled the syndicate at Naka Hall Plaza on Abutu Garba Street, Gudu, Abuja. They arrested 105 suspects, including four Chinese nationals and 101 Nigerians, and seized 100 compact workstations from the scene.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, EFCC Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwujaren, described the scam as a “globally entrenched internet-related fraud” that has recently surfaced in Nigeria.
He explained that the scheme involves Chinese nationals recruiting Nigerians to act as Customer Service Representatives, operating under fabricated foreign identities.
Detailing the operation, Uwujaren stated: “The modus operandi involves Chinese nationals who usually recruit local and computer-savvy Nigerians as Customer Service Representatives. The Representatives are made to work on a prepared template of criminality online. They are given identities and names, usually foreign, through which they chat with expatriates.”
The scam deceives victims into participating in hotel reviews with promises of monetary rewards.
Uwujaren added: “The crime involves making false representations to victims to win their trust and engage in hotel ratings with promises of $5 for every hotel that is reviewed. As the victims get paid, they are encouraged to review more hotels, and the payment is increased to $10 per rating. After a long while, the victim is encouraged to make bookings in any of the rated hotels for as much as $500, with the company promising to pay back with chunky interest into a crypto wallet bearing their names. After making bookings, the victim would not be able to open the wallet, and their money is lost.”
Describing the operation as an “intricate mechanism of defrauding foreigners,” Uwujaren revealed that the fraud targets victims in Europe and beyond.
He also disclosed that the EFCC is collaborating with global law enforcement agencies to investigate the broader implications of this crime.
This breakthrough comes just a month after the EFCC arrested 792 suspected internet and investment fraudsters on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. The arrests took place at the Big Leaf Building, located at No. 7 Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. Uwujaren stated that the investigation into this case is nearing completion, and the suspects will soon face charges in court.
