By Kingsley Omonobi
The 2026 Annual Nigeria Financial Intelligence Report has revealed that terrorists and extremist groups are increasingly using crowdfunding networks to raise funds for their criminal activities.
The report by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) said terrorist financiers were also opening bank accounts in women’s names and using phone numbers for mobile banking or account alerts that were not registered to the account holders or actual beneficiaries.
According to the report, the crowdfunding schemes involved foreign-based facilitators using social media platforms to solicit donations under the guise of humanitarian relief or educational support before moving the funds through multiple layers to terrorist operatives in Nigeria.
It said hundreds of sympathisers were encouraged to make contributions ranging from $50 to $500 through PayPal pages or conventional bank accounts, with the amounts deliberately kept low to avoid triggering automated anti-money laundering alerts.
Explaining the method, the report said foreign-based facilitators ran social media campaigns seeking donations for purported humanitarian or educational causes and used encrypted messaging applications to distribute links to payment pages and bank accounts.
It said the funds were pooled in master accounts controlled by senior members of the groups living legally abroad.
“When the pool reaches a threshold, that account becomes the hub for onward movement. The funds would subsequently be fragmented into dozens of smaller payments and transferred through International Money Transfer Operators and remittance applications to a network of money mules in Nigeria,” the report stated.
The NFIU identified students, small-business owners and relatives among those allegedly used as money mules, saying the strategy was designed to avoid reporting thresholds and obscure the origin and destination of the funds.
It said the money was subsequently converted to cash or used to purchase dual-use items, including motorcycles, fertilisers and satellite internet equipment, before being transferred through mobile banking channels to logistics managers and field operatives.
Women’s accounts used as fronts
The report further revealed that terrorist financiers were opening bank accounts in women’s names while male commanders and logistics managers secretly controlled the accounts.
According to the NFIU, the tactic exploits social and cultural assumptions that women are less likely to attract suspicion from authorities.
It said wives, sisters and female associates were sometimes used as fronts to distance illicit funds from the actual operatives.
“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 report stated.
The NFIU also identified the use of phone numbers not registered to account holders or actual beneficiaries for mobile banking and transaction alerts.
According to the report, facilitators used pre-registered SIM cards, SIMs registered to deceased persons or SIMs linked to other individuals to weaken the connection between bank accounts, SIM cards and Bank Verification Numbers.
“This severs the audit trail: when a transaction is flagged, investigators trace the phone to an unrelated person, letting the real facilitator stay anonymous and continue operations,” it stated.
ISWAP uses coded transaction descriptions
The report also said terrorist cells, particularly those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), used detailed transaction descriptions as part of an internal accounting system.
According to the NFIU, the groups operated with structured financial controls, requiring detailed descriptions to enable field commanders to account for expenditures to central financial controllers.
It said analysts had observed high-frequency, logistics-related payments with accurate descriptions sent from a single source to multiple recipients.
However, the report noted that some facilitators used seemingly innocuous words, secret codes or alphanumeric strings in transaction descriptions to conceal the purpose of transfers.
It said the coded language was sometimes combined with different languages to evade automated banking filters designed to detect terms associated with terrorism financing.
Financial crimes, scams rising
The NFIU said its risk and crime analysis during the year identified an increasingly interconnected threat landscape involving financial crime, technology and cross-border activities.
It said there had been growing cases of Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding arrangements, cryptocurrency-enabled investment scams and hacking-related fraud, including the compromise of social media and messaging accounts.
The report stated that financial fraud remained a dominant predicate offence, with notable growth in Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding arrangements, cryptocurrency-enabled investment scams and hacking-related fraud.
It added that the schemes increasingly exploited gaps in fintech onboarding, including tiered accounts with minimal identification requirements, while digital platforms were used to rapidly recruit victims and move funds.
On corruption and misappropriation of public funds, the NFIU said its analysis highlighted persistent vulnerabilities in public-sector financial management.
It identified the diversion of state and local government funds through accounts belonging to finance officers and associated third parties as a continuing concern.
The report also identified procurement processes as a significant risk area, while noting that extensive use of cash transactions continued to complicate audit trails and efforts to trace assets.
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