Terrorists Using Dead Persons’ Accounts, Crowdfunding To Finance Operations – NFIU

The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, has uncovered emerging methods being used to raise, move and conceal funds for terrorist operations in Nigeria.

According to the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, terrorist financiers are increasingly exploiting crowdfunding platforms, proxy bank accounts and mobile phone numbers registered to other people to disguise the movement of illicit funds.

The report identified a crowdfunding network in which foreign-based facilitators allegedly use social media to solicit donations under the guise of humanitarian relief or educational support.

Hundreds of sympathisers are encouraged to contribute between $50 and $500 through PayPal pages or conventional bank accounts. The relatively small transactions are reportedly designed to avoid triggering automated anti-money laundering alerts.

The funds are subsequently pooled into a master account controlled by a senior member of the network based abroad. Once sufficient funds are accumulated, they are fragmented into smaller payments and transferred 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 money, the mules may convert it to cash, purchase dual-use items such as motorcycles, fertilisers and satellite internet equipment, or transfer the funds through mobile banking channels to logistics managers and field operatives.

The agency also identified gender-based proxy accounts as another emerging technique. Terrorist financiers allegedly open accounts in women’s names while male commanders or logistics managers secretly control the accounts.

According to the report, wives, sisters and female associates may be used as fronts to distance illicit funds from the actual operatives.

The NFIU further warned that facilitators were using phone numbers that were not registered to account holders or actual beneficiaries for mobile banking and transaction alerts.

These include pre-registered SIM cards, numbers registered to deceased persons and SIMs linked to proxy accounts, making it more difficult for investigators to establish the true identity of those controlling transactions.

The agency also detected coded and detailed transaction narrations allegedly used by terrorist cells, particularly those linked to ISWAP, to maintain internal financial records.

The NFIU said the findings demonstrated the increasingly sophisticated methods used by terrorist networks to conceal funding sources, move money and finance their operations.