Operatives of the Economic and Financial Commission of Nigeria (EFCC) conducted a successful operation to detain 105 alleged Internet meshs in the city of Abuja. The operation was carried out on January 9, 2025 on the basis of the information received about the new schemes of Internet crimes related to foreigners. Among the detainees are 4 citizens of China and 101 Nigerian. During the operation, 100 compact workstations were seized.
The open scheme of fraud is called “Hotel Overview” and is actively used in different countries, but for Nigeria this method is relatively new. The organizers of the criminal scheme are China citizens who hire local residents with work skills on a computer. The hired employees work under false names and conduct correspondence with the victims – mainly foreigners from Europe.
The essence of the scheme is to attract the trust of the victims, offering them payment for hotel reviews – $ 5 for the first review and up to $ 10 for subsequent ones. Then the victims are encouraged to book rooms in hotels, promising a refund with high profit through cryptocurrencies. However, after making money, access to cryptocurrencies is blocked, and the victims lose their funds.
This complex scheme is focused on foreigners and represents a large -scale mechanism of fraud. EFCC continues to cooperate with international law enforcement agencies to identify the global aspects of this crime.
Operation in Abuja was a continuation of the investigation, which was started after a large-scale detention of 792 suspects in Internet monk in Lagos. This operation was carried out on December 10, 2024. The investigation is almost completed, and the detainees will be involved in the court in the near future.
These incidents emphasize how important international cooperation in the fight against Internet motion. The disclosure of complex deception schemes demonstrates that crimes in the digital environment are no longer unpunished, and modern technologies become a tool not only for scammers, but also for their exposure.