The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit has uncovered emerging methods allegedly being used by terrorist financiers to raise, transfer and conceal funds for operations in Nigeria.
The NFIU disclosed this in its 2025 Annual Report, which highlighted the use of crowdfunding platforms, proxy bank accounts, SIM cards registered to deceased persons and other techniques to disguise illicit financial transactions.
According to the report, foreign-based facilitators have been using social media to solicit donations under the guise of humanitarian relief and educational assistance. The funds are reportedly collected from numerous donors in relatively small amounts before being channelled through several accounts and money-transfer platforms.
The report said the donations, often ranging from $50 to $500, were pooled in accounts controlled by senior members of the networks before being divided into smaller transfers to money mules in Nigeria.
It identified students, small-business operators and relatives among those allegedly used to receive the funds.
The NFIU said the money could subsequently be withdrawn as cash, used to acquire items such as motorcycles, fertilisers and satellite internet equipment, or transferred through mobile banking channels to individuals responsible for logistics and field operations.
The report stated, “Rather than sending one large transfer, the senior member fractures the funds and sends dozens of sub-threshold payments through IMTOs and remittance apps to a network of money mules in Nigeria.”
The financial intelligence agency also raised concerns over what it described as gender-based proxy accounts, where bank accounts opened in women’s names are allegedly controlled by male terrorist commanders or logistics managers.
It said wives, sisters and female associates could be used as fronts to distance illicit funds from the actual beneficiaries.
The NFIU noted, “This tactic functions as identity laundering: women’s accounts are managed by men who hold ATM cards, mobile-banking credentials, and PINs, while the women often remain unaware of the transactions and volumes.”
The agency further identified the use of telephone numbers that do not belong to account holders or the actual beneficiaries of transactions.
It said some facilitators use pre-registered SIM cards, including numbers registered to deceased persons, as well as SIMs associated with proxy account holders, in an attempt to obscure the identity of those controlling the funds.
According to the report, “Terrorist facilitators use phone numbers for mobile banking or account alerts that are not registered to the account holder or the true beneficiary.”
The NFIU also said terrorist networks were employing coded or seemingly ordinary descriptions in transaction narrations to disguise the purpose of payments.
It noted that some cells, including those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province, used detailed descriptions to maintain internal records of financial transactions, while others relied on secret codes, alphanumeric combinations and different languages to evade automated banking filters.
The agency said, “Transaction descriptions employ innocuous words, secret codes, or alphanumeric strings to conceal intent.”
The NFIU said its analysis also revealed wider financial risks involving fraud, Ponzi schemes, cryptocurrency-related investment scams, fraudulent crowdfunding schemes and hacking.
It added that criminals were increasingly exploiting weaknesses in fintech onboarding processes, including accounts requiring limited identification, to recruit victims and move illicit funds quickly.
The report further identified vulnerabilities in public-sector financial management, including the alleged diversion of government funds through accounts belonging to finance officers and third parties.
Reacting to the findings, security expert Chidi Omeje called for stronger financial intelligence and improved operational strategies by security agencies.
Omeje urged the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and financial regulatory authorities to intensify efforts to track suspicious financial movements.
He said, “Every single day, these guys grow in sophistication and desperation, and we must also devise means to bring them to their knees.”
He added that authorities must “follow the money trail” to effectively disrupt criminal networks.
Another security analyst, Lawrence Alobi, called for stronger intelligence sharing between security agencies and financial institutions.
Alobi said banks must strengthen their identity verification procedures and ensure that accounts are not being operated by individuals acting as undisclosed proxies.
He said, “Security agencies need to work with the banks and also warn them. Any bank found to have connived or aided this act should be sanctioned.”
He further urged financial institutions to ensure that every account is linked to a properly verified individual in order to close loopholes being exploited by criminal networks.
