The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has spoken out against the growing activities of internet scammers, commonly called Yahoo Boys. According to him, these fraudsters are causing serious embarrassment to Nigeria.

Speaking during a media briefing held on Monday, June 16, at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja, Olukoyede said Yahoo Boys are making life harder for Nigerians abroad. He noted that because of their activities, many Nigerians are now treated like criminals at airports and border crossings in other countries.

“I want Nigerians to know that we are having a crisis on our hands. If you travel abroad with your green passport and stand in the queue among so many people, you will discover that by the time you present the passport, the people (immigration officers) will look at you with some reservation. That is, if they don’t take you aside to carry out some special scrutiny. That is a national shame that some young Nigerians (Yahoo-Yahoo Boys) have caused for us.

I go out to interact with my counterpart and other government agencies abroad in the course of tracing money and recovering assets. And there are things that it would be difficult for you to defend.

We recently arrested groups of young men, and people no longer believe in hard work. I’m from a state where education is our pride. If you go to the secondary school that I attended, by 12 noon, the students have left school,” he said.

He also mentioned that internet fraud is not just about tricking people online. In many cases, these scammers are involved in more serious crimes like kidnapping and working with armed groups, especially when their online scams don’t succeed.

Olukoyede didn’t stop there. He warned that these fraudsters are not working alone. According to him, they help politicians and powerful people move illegal money around. He stressed that some of these dishonest activities involve people both inside and outside the government.

In his message, Olukoyede called on Nigerians to understand the deep damage internet fraud is doing to the country’s image and to help fight against it.

“The most dangerous aspect of it is not just about Yahoo-Yahoo, some of these guys are into banditry, kidnapping. When they don’t see people to scam on time, they resort to these vices. Some of them launder money for politically exposed persons. Don’t just see them as Yahoo-Yahoo Boys anymore; the traditional way of stealing money is not applicable anymore.

When they (politically-exposed persons) steal money in billions, they give it to these boys, they open crypto wallets, and from there, the money goes abroad.

Most of these politically exposed persons identify these boys, lodge them in the hotel, the boys open accounts for them and take the money abroad to buy cars, houses and other luxury items.

Nigerians should look at them beyond just yahoo-yahoo. We arrested a 22-year-old; he had a turnover of over N5 billion within 18 months. We discovered that he laundered money for politically exposed people. A boy who has never worked in his life. They used them to steal government money now. They do ritual killings. They are also involved in cybercrime.

You see them in hotels and in groups trying to scam people. You see secondary school students driving vehicles. Are those the people we want to hand Nigeria over to? Is that the nation we want to build?” Olukoyede said