Abuja, NIGERIA — Rowland Turaki was a cybersecurity student in Lagos, Nigeria, when he answered an advertisement seeking customer service representatives for a Chinese-owned company called Genting International Co. Ltd.
Turaki’s interview focused on his typing skills instead of his computer skills. When he joined other young men in their 20s on the staff, he received a script that he was to use to interact with clients through a computer chat window.
“The chat was basically befriending the client and gaining the client’s trust,” Turaki recently told a Nigerian court. “I was to present myself as a woman to gain the client’s trust.”
Turaki was a witness in the trial of Hong Will and 12 other Chinese nationals charged with cryptocurrency investment scams and romantic schemes designed to defraud victims. The Chinese nationals hired Nigerians like Turaki and foreign nationals to do the work.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested nearly 800 people in December at a Lagos office building where the company operated. Among those arrested were 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, one Pakistani and one Indonesian.
In January, 11 Chinese nationals were arraigned in Lagos and pleaded not guilty. In February, 40 more Chinese nationals pleaded guilty to cybercrime and identity theft charges.
“Foreigners are taking advantage of our nation’s unfortunate reputation as a haven of frauds to establish a foothold here to disguise their atrocious criminal enterprises,” EFCC Director of Public Affairs Wilson Uwujaren said in a statement about the December arrests.
Nigerian authorities say their Chinese counterparts have pledged to help stop scam operations like Genting International. However, Nigerian political analyst Chukwudi Odoeme is skeptical.
Odoeme fears that China might use its influence to undermine the court cases.
“The collaboration may be defeated in the sense that China will have undue influence, and it may even lead to political release of those persons instead of subjecting them through the criminal trial system in Nigeria,” Odoeme recently told Voice of America.
Nigeria has one of Africa’s largest online communities with more than 100 million internet users. Internet growth has outpaced the country’s ability to detect and arrest cybercriminals, leading to it becoming a haven for online fraud.
Scam operators even operate “Hustle Kingdom” academies that recruit schoolchildren and sharpen their skills in online fraud.
Nigeria ranks fifth in the world for cybercrime, according to the first World Cybercrime Index compiled in 2024 by Oxford University researchers Amanda Bruce and Jonathan Lusthaus. Nigerian authorities estimate that the country loses up to $800 million yearly through cyber-related crimes.
“Cybercrime has become embedded in parts of Nigerian culture,” analyst Gana N. Nwana wrote in a recent report for London-based telecommunications consulting firm Cenerva. “Among the youth, it is often glamorized in music, media, and peer networks, contributing to its normalization.”
Experts say that high unemployment and a lack of opportunities for young people make cybercrime operations like Genting International a tempting option for well-paid work.
“This societal tolerance, combined with weak law enforcement, exacerbates the problem,” Nwana wrote.
The result is an environment conducive to the kind of internet scam operations the EFCC broke up in December.
Nwana urged Nigerian authorities to do more to educate their citizens about the threats they face from scammers. He also called for Nigeria to update its cybercrime laws to confront cyberterrorism and cryptocurrency fraud.
“As Nigeria continues its trajectory as a regional tech hub, the effectiveness of its cybercrime response will largely determine its digital future,” Nwana wrote.
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