TL;DR Breakdown
- Nigeria’s anti-financial crime agency says crypto growth poses a danger to the world.
- EFCC calls for collaborative effort to stop crypto crimes.
- Nigerian crypto scammers prefer Bitcoin, Ethereum.
The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has lamented how crypto growth has been a problem for the African nation.
According to the Anti-graft boss, crypto growth poses a far greater danger to the world economy and not only the Nigerian economy.
Towards putting a stop to the threat crypto brings, Bawa says that there is a need for a collective and collaborative approach by authorities worldwide.
Countries must curb scams amidst crypto growth – Bawa
The EFCC chairman explained that there has to be a collaborative effort to end crypto crimes. He notes that the crimes affect the vital structures of global economies, causing significant damage to the global financial system and depriving developing nations of the needed resources for sustainable development.
He made the remark recently at a symposium organized by the Centre for International Documentation on Organized and Economic Crime (CIDOEC). The meeting was to discuss the cost of economic crimes and who should foot this bill.
Bawa also warned that developed countries are not immune from a scourge that has been magnified by the proliferation of cyber-crimes which he says “threatens the stability of global financial institutions.”
Crypto scams on the rise in Nigeria
In a statement by the EFCC days back, the anti-graft agency revealed that there had been an upsurge in financial fraud and crypto crime in Nigeria.
Data by the agency from suspects arrested reveals gift cards, at 39 percent, as the prevalent method employed by the suspects to access their illicit funds. It is followed by bank transfers at 27 percent and Cryptocurrency at 21 percent.
The chairman revealed that the arrested suspects in the nest of the agency preferred Bitcoin and Ethereum as their favorite means of exchange. EFCC revealed a total of $12,512.49USD has been recovered from the e-wallet accounts of four suspects.
Bawa noted that victims of crypto scams suffer globally, either directly or indirectly; hence global regulators need to come together to ensure that perpetrators of the crime pay dearly for their crimes and not victims.
