Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency arrested 792 people in a raid on a building in the country’s largest city that it suspects was a hub for a massive crypto romance scam operation.
The suspects, arrested on Dec. 10 in Lagos, included 148 Chinese and 40 Filipino nationals, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) spokesperson told Reuters on Dec. 16.
"Nigerian accomplices were recruited by the foreign kingpins to prospect for victims online through phishing, targeting mostly Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and several others from European countries," the EFCC spokesperson said.
“Once the Nigerians are able to win the confidence of would-be victims, the foreigners would take over the actual task of defrauding the victims,” they added.
The EFCC said the suspects would contact victims over social media to seduce them or offer bogus crypto investment schemes and then pressure them to transfer money — a type of scam known as pig butchering.
Ken Gamble, co-founder of the cybercrime investigative firm IFW Global, which has worked with the EFCC, told Cointelegraph that Chinese crime groups are expanding into Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe after setting up larger similar schemes in Southeast Asia.
“Chinese organized crime groups are expanding their operations into countries with weaker cybersecurity enforcement frameworks,” Gamble said.
”The Chinese bring the technology, infrastructure and financing, which allows the local Nigerian scam syndicates to enhance their operations.”
Gamble said the alleged Lagos-based scheme was smaller than others, with Chinese ringleaders typically aiming to employ around 1,000 people in their organizations.
Some in Myanmar had up to 5,000 people working in their schemes, he said.
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Gamble said that such workers, recruited through job ads, would be paid “better than usual” compared to their country’s average income.
Nigerians, for example, might be paid as much as $500 monthly — 10 times more than the country’s minimum wage — plus bonuses, depending on how many successful scams are pulled off.
The EFCC spokesperson said the agency was collaborating with international partners and would be looking at whether the alleged scheme was linked to organized crime.
In August, blockchain security firm Chainalysis said that pig butchering scams were on the rise this year as cybercriminals are favoring the quicker style of scams over long-burning Ponzi schemes.
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