A new generation bank has alongside six Fintechs and microfinance banks got implicated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in major financial scams by allowing fraudsters launder huge sums of money.
Wilson Uwujaren, Director of public Affairs of the Commission, made this known at a press briefing at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.
He said the compromised institutions allegedly allowed cryptocurrency transactions worth N162 billion pass through without proper due diligence within the 2024/2025 financial year.
He said that the financial institutions clearly compromised banking procedures and allowed the fraudsters safely change their ill-gotten gains into digital assets and move them to safe destinations.
Said he: “A total sum of N18.1 billion was moved through the financial system without due diligence of customers by the banks.
“It is worrisome that investigations by the Commission showed that cryptocurrency transactions to the tune of N162 billion passed through a new generation bank without any due diligence.
“Investigations showed that a single customer maintained 960 accounts in another new bank and all the accounts were used for fraudulent purposes.
“That is bad news but the good news is that following our intervention the Commission has been able to recover N33.62 million, which has been returned to some of the victims”.
He explained that the scams were in two categories, adding that the first was a syndicate of fraudsters that employed an airline discount scheme to lure their victims.
He said that they advertised a discount system for the purchase of flight tickets of a particular foreign carrier.
Added he: “The payment module is designed in such a way that the victims’ payment is actually made into the account of the airline.
“After payment is made the passenger’s entire funds in his bank account are emptied”.
