Nigeria’s National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) says it has uncovered a foreign crowdfunding-based scheme used to finance terrorist activity in Nigeria. The NFIU alleges that funds originating abroad are channelled through a network of operatives inside the country.
According to the NFIU’s findings as reported by outlets, the scheme uses methods intended to obscure the origin of the money and to distribute it into smaller transactions. These include using women’s bank accounts, employing “ghost” SIM cards, and consolidating funds in a master account before splitting them into smaller payments. The money is then transferred through international money-transfer services and remittance applications to Nigerian money mules.
Both reports describe a cross-border financing model tied to crowdfunding and coordinated operational funding. They differ mainly in emphasis: one account highlights the crowdfunding network and specific tactics such as women’s accounts and ghost SIMs, while the other focuses more on the step-by-step movement of funds through financial channels and onward distribution to operatives.
