Nigeria deports Chinese crooks to repression of cybercrime “led by a foreigner”

Nigeria has expelled dozens of foreigners, including 50 Chinese nationals, in a major repression during last week on one of the “largest cybercrime unions led by foreigners,” said the country’s anti-graft agency.

“This bears the total of foreign nationals sentenced to 102 in the current exercise,” he said, adding that they had been found guilty of “cyberterrorism and internet fraud”.

They are among the 192 foreigners arrested during a bite operation in Lagos last Friday.

Nigeria is known for internet fraud and romantic scams are riveted. Cybercrime cases were among the most widespread offenses in Nigeria last year, according to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

In recent years, the EFCC has managed to burst several hiding places where young cybercriminals, known locally under the name of “Yahoo Boys”, acquire their skills in scam.

There have also been several cases of high-level cyber-fraude linked to Nigerians living outside the country-some discovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States (FBI).

On Thursday, the EFCC published photos on X of the foreigners it deported that day. They were shown in long lines at an airport, wearing facial masks and with their luggage.

“Other deportations are planned in the coming days,” said the agency.

The operation, nicknamed “Eagle Flush”, was invited after receipt of “usable information”, said the EFCC.

Of the 192 arrested in the bite, 148 were Chinese, he added.

This is the second swoop on foreigners suspected of involvement in cybercrime in the past year.

Nearly 800 suspects, including 148 Chinese and 40 Filipino nationals, were arrested last December in what the authorities called an organized network in which foreigners collaborated with Nigerian recruits to make Romanesque and Investment of Cryptocurrency.

EFCC has linked increasing cybercrime in Nigeria to the increase in unemployment, the quest for rapid wealth among young people, a large informal economy and low regulatory managers.

Last year, the owner of Instagram, Meta, deleted thousands of accounts in Nigeria who were trying to target people in online sextrition diets.

These crooks generally pose as young women online to encourage people to send sexually explicit equipment before making them sing.

The company said that it had also deleted 5,700 Facebook groups in which crooks offered advice on how to defraud people.

Experts and authorities previously warned social media users to remain aware and alerts the dangers of the scam in the midst of their apparent increase.