The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has uncovered emerging methods being used by terrorist financiers to raise, conceal and channel funds to operatives in Nigeria.
The agency disclosed that terrorist networks were increasingly exploiting crowdfunding platforms, proxy bank accounts registered in women’s names and mobile banking numbers that are not linked to the actual account holders or beneficiaries.
The findings were contained in the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, which highlighted growing links between financial crime, technology and cross-border terrorist financing.
According to the report, foreign-based facilitators were using social media platforms to solicit donations under the guise of humanitarian relief or educational support before routing the funds through several layers to terrorist operatives.
The NFIU said donors were typically encouraged to contribute relatively small amounts, ranging from $50 to $500, through PayPal pages or conventional bank accounts. The amounts were allegedly kept below thresholds likely to trigger automated anti-money laundering alerts.
The funds were subsequently consolidated into a “master account” controlled by a senior member of the network residing legally abroad.
Once the funds reached a certain threshold, the account allegedly became a hub for onward transfers. The money was then split into dozens of smaller payments and sent through International Money Transfer Operators and remittance applications to money mules in Nigeria.
The NFIU identified students, small-business owners and relatives among individuals allegedly used as intermediaries.
Upon receiving the funds, the money was either converted to cash or used to purchase items such as motorcycles, fertilisers and satellite internet equipment. In other cases, it was transferred through mobile banking channels to logistics managers and field operatives.
The Unit also identified what it described as “gender-based proxy accounts” as an emerging terrorist financing technique.
According to the report, terrorists were opening accounts in the names of wives, sisters and female associates while male commanders or logistics managers secretly controlled the accounts.
The NFIU said the practice was designed to distance illicit funds from the actual operatives, with some women allegedly unaware of the volume or nature of transactions carried out through their accounts.
It further revealed that terrorist facilitators were using telephone numbers that were not registered to account holders or actual beneficiaries for mobile banking and transaction alerts.
The agency said pre-registered SIM cards, numbers registered to deceased persons and SIMs linked to proxy account holders were being used to weaken the connection between bank accounts, telephone numbers and Bank Verification Numbers.
The NFIU also identified the use of coded or misleading transaction descriptions to conceal the purpose of payments.
It said some terrorist cells, including those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province, used detailed transaction narrations as an internal accounting system, while others relied on innocuous words, secret codes and alphanumeric combinations to evade automated banking filters.
The Unit noted that some facilitators also switched between languages in transaction descriptions to make it more difficult for financial institutions to identify suspicious transfers.
Beyond terrorism financing, the NFIU said its 2025 analysis identified an increasingly interconnected threat involving financial crime, technology and cross-border activity.
Fraud remained a major predicate offence, with growing cases of Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding, cryptocurrency-related investment scams and hacking-linked fraud.
The agency said criminal networks were increasingly exploiting weaknesses in fintech onboarding processes, including tiered accounts requiring limited identification, while digital platforms were being used to recruit victims and move funds rapidly.
The report also highlighted vulnerabilities in public-sector financial management, including the diversion of government funds through accounts belonging to finance officers and third parties.
A security expert, Chidi Omeje, urged Nigerian security and financial intelligence agencies to strengthen their strategies for tracking illicit financial flows.
Omeje said criminal networks were constantly developing new ways to circumvent existing security measures and called for stronger efforts to follow the money trail.
Another security analyst, Lawrence Alobi, advocated increased intelligence sharing between security agencies and financial institutions.
Alobi also called for stricter identity verification within the banking sector, warning that financial institutions must ensure accounts are controlled by genuine beneficiaries rather than proxies.
He further urged authorities to hold financial institutions accountable where weaknesses in their systems are exploited to facilitate illicit financial activities.
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