Between April and June, 2021, the Advance Fee Fraud and Cyber Crime Sections of the Command recorded a total of 402 internet-related fraud arrests.
Ajah accounted for 24 suspects, while Oniru and Sangotedo had 14 and 13 suspects respectively. Badore had 8 suspects.
Neighbouring Ikoyi and Eko Atlantic had 2 and 1 suspect each. Ikorodu and Alagbado on the Lagos Mainland make up the remainder.
The suspects are mostly millennials, with 82 aged between 25-34 years. Individuals arrested are either still in school, recent graduates or university dropouts.
“64% of individuals arrested are involved in romance scam, followed closely by “Middle Man Scam” and “Picking” which account for 8% and 7% respectively of those arrested.
Other typologies of fraud identified include forgery, possession of fraudulent documents, spamming, credit card fraud, impersonation, rental scam, loan fraud, Business Email Compromise, hacking, stealing, cheque scam, phishing, and money laundering.
Gift cards, at 39%, was detected as the prevalent method employed by the suspects to access their illicit funds. It is followed by bank transfers at 27% and cryptocurrency at 21%.
Also within the second quarter, a total of $12,512 was recovered from the e-wallet accounts of four suspects.