EFCC, Stakeholders Move To Tackle Illicit Financial Flow
By Ladi Dapson, Maiduguri
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has attributed the underdevelopment of Africa to illicit financial flow in the continent through virtual asset fraud.
The Chairman disclosed this during the commemoration of the Africa Anti-Corruption Day with a lecture themed: UNDERSTANDING VIRTUAL ASSETS AND INVESTMENT FRAUD,” held in Maiduguri.
He warned that virtual asset fraud is spreading like wildfire on the continent as a result of the existence of many dishonest schemes.
Ola Olukoyede, represented by Aisha Habib, EFCC Zonal Directorate Borno and Yobe States, urged youths and students to take caution not to be enticed by unscrupulous elements in online investments.
She maintained, “What we did today is to highlight the prevalence of digital and investment fraud and intricacies of some fraudsters and money laundering using digital means to defraud people with legitimate resources.
” Investment fraud, like virtual assets fraud, spreads like fire across Africa. Fraudsters are exploiting vulnerabilities of desperate investors to defraud them through various dishonest schemes. Every exploitation of investors in any guise is considered a fraudulent act. Ponzi schemes rank as one of the most pervasive of such acts, ” he said
According to her, “Africa continues to be assailed by the scourge of corruption in diverse ways. The issue of illicit financial flows is a monstrous challenge to African development, with annual losses running into billions of dollars. These flows come from diverse criminal activities with money laundering ranking as the highest.
She added, “Another rising criminal engagement that has the potential to outpace, even money laundering, on the continent is virtual assets and investment scam. In a simplified language, virtual assets are digital representations of monetary values that operate on block chain and can be traded, exchanged, and transfered for payment or investment purposes. They are cryptocurrencies and digital tokens operating on ledger technology.
” It is important to clearly state that virtual assets are not fundamentally criminal. It is when they are wrongfully or fraudulently used that they become criminal. Technology is moving at a supersonic speed around the world. The advent of virtual assets is a response to one of the qualities of money as a store of value. However, as with every progressive innovation, fraudsters usually evolve ways of perverting their genuine purposes.
She assured that the commission is up to it’s duty and will continue to discharge them accordingly
“For us at the EFCC, virtual assets fraud and investment scam are not hard nuts to crack. Proactive and broad- based training and intelligence are bringing fraudulent schemes to the fore. We are ahead in every material sense, and there are enormous proofs of operational successes in this regard, especially the breakthrough in investigation and prosecution of the infamous CBEX scam.
“The EFCC is always at work to engage every stakeholder in its preventive and investigative activities. Virtual assets and investment fraud, like other fraudulent activities, are preventable. The escape route is adequate knowledge and understanding of issues involved,” she assured.
Stakeholders at the event include ICPC, academicians, head of security agencies, CSOs, students, business community, and corps members, among others.
