The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has indicted a new generation bank, six Fintechs and some microfinance banks in major financial scams by allowing fraudsters to launder huge sums of money.

Spokesman Wilson Uwujaren said at a news briefing at in Abuja yesterday the institutions allegedly allowed cryptocurrency transactions worth N162 billion to pass through without proper due diligence within the 2024/2025 financial year.

He said the financial institutions clearly compromised banking procedures and allowed the fraudsters to safely change their ill-gotten gains into digital assets and move them to safe destinations. Uwujaren said: “A total sum of N18.1 billion was moved through the financial system without due diligence of customers by the banks.

“It is worrisome that investigations by the commission showed that cryptocurrency transactions to the tune of N162 billion passed through a new generation bank without any due diligence.

“ I n v e s t i g a t i o n s showed that a single customer maintained 960 accounts in another new bank and all the accounts were used for fraudulent purposes. “That is bad news but the good news is that following our intervention the commission has been able to recover N33.62 million, which has been returned to some of the victims.”

He explained that the scams were in two categories, adding that the first was a syndicate of fraudsters that employed an airline discount scheme to lure their victims.

According to him, they advertised a discount system for the purchase of flight tickets of a particular foreign carrier. He said:“The payment module is designed in such a way that the victims’ payment is actually made into the account of the airline. “After payment is made the passenger’s entire funds in his bank account are emptied.”