Fraud: EFCC denies nationwide clampdown on successful Nigerian youths

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied allegations it is hounding successful youths in its quest to contain internet fraud aka Yahoo-Yahoo.

Nigerians on social media have accused the agency and the police of branding, without proof, every young successful person as an internet fraudster.

But Chairman of the Commission Ibrahim Magu denied these allegations on Monday.
During an interview after the opening ceremony of a three-day conference and retreat for senior police officers held in Lagos, Magu insisted that the EFCC went after suspects based on credible intelligence.

He also reiterated that the EFCC was making plans to rehabiliate arrested internet fraudsters so they could be of great use to the country and society.


Magu said, “We go after fraudsters and not successful young persons.

“We do due diligence before clamping down on them.

“I have also mentioned that we are making arrangement to rehabilitate these arrested fraudsters so that they can be useful to the society.”

Meanwhile, Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki, who was also at the event, said the state was using community policing to tackle the menace of highway kidnapping and armed violence which have been prevalent for some months.

He said his administration was working very hard with the office of the Inspector General of Police (IG) to ensure that attacks on motorists plying the Ore-Benin Highway was a thing of the past.

Obaseki said, “Our model for community policing is key and we are working very hard with the IG’s office. Do not forget that the current IG was AIG in Edo State and that was when we started working on the whole concept of community policing.

“That is one of the reasons I am here: to work with the senior management of the police in terms of providing security in the state.”