LAGOS, May 31 — A Nigerian court has sentenced 15 Asian nationals — including one Malaysian — to prison for cyberterrorism and internet fraud, marking one of the country’s largest cases involving foreign cybercriminals, according to the national anti-corruption agency.
LAGOS, May 31 — A Nigerian court has sentenced 15 Asian nationals — including one Malaysian — to prison for cyberterrorism and internet fraud, marking one of the country’s largest cases involving foreign cybercriminals, according to the national anti-corruption agency.
The group, comprising 11 Filipinos, two Chinese, one Malaysian, and one Indonesian, received one-year jail terms and fines of one million naira each (approximately RM2,681) after pleading guilty in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, said Dele Oyewale, spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They were found guilty of recruiting young Nigerians to commit identity theft and pose as foreigners online.
“The court also ordered all devices seized from the convicts to be forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria,” Oyewale added.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has long struggled with internet fraud, often associated with so-called “Yahoo Boys” — a term for local scammers who frequently target victims abroad.
The EFCC has raided numerous locations where young Nigerians are allegedly trained in online scams. Cybercrime experts have raised concerns that foreign syndicates are increasingly operating in Nigeria, exploiting its weak cybersecurity infrastructure.
According to the EFCC, these foreign syndicates recruit Nigerian partners to help carry out phishing scams, which typically aim to trick victims—mainly from the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe—into sending money or disclosing sensitive personal data.
In one major operation last December, EFCC agents arrested 792 individuals in Lagos’s upscale Victoria Island district. Of those detained, 192 were foreign nationals, including 148 Chinese. Many of them are still facing trial for related offences. — AFP
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