Nigeria’s police said nine people were arrested in three cross-border cybercrime probes, including a romance-fraud case targeting people in Canada with documented losses for two victims exceeding CA$417,000.
Assistant Inspector-General of Police Akaninyene Ezima outlined the investigations at a briefing in Abuja on Oct. 23. Police said four arrests were made in Agbor and Okpanam, Delta State; two in the romance-fraud case; and three in Lekki, Lagos State.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) provided intelligence that prompted the Delta and Lagos investigations. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) intelligence informed the romance-fraud probe, which also involved cooperation with the RCMP and Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA), police said.
The four Delta arrests came in a probe into a suspected transnational network involving investment fraud and related cybercrime. Police said the wider allegations included sextortion, cryptocurrency fraud and the creation of websites for fraudulent activity. Analysis of a suspect-controlled wallet showed records for 21 approved cryptocurrency transactions totaling US$21,150, police said. Authorities recovered assets valued at US$15,900 and placed them in a custodial wallet. Police also said a victim in Indonesia lost 7 million Indonesian rupiah.
In the Canada-targeting case, police said a suspected network targeted elderly residents in Canada from 2020 to 2024, building online relationships before asking for money as investments, loans or other assistance. Five victims had been identified, and two had documented losses exceeding CA$417,000. One victim transferred more than CA$200,000 between 2020 and 2022; another allegedly sent CA$214,000 in cryptocurrency and CA$3,000 by wire transfer. Police linked a Binance wallet to transfers totaling 1,684,441 Tether (USDT).
The Lagos investigation led to three arrests on Oct. 14. Police alleged that Adebayo Adewale Basit used artificial intelligence voice-cloning and deepfake technology to impersonate Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. Investigators linked the suspects to a platform called Bitcoin Trading Hub.
Police said investigations were continuing and recovered devices were undergoing forensic examination. They said the four Delta suspects would be brought before a court after investigators and prosecutors finish preparing the case.
