NFIU Uncovers How Terrorists Use Women’s Bank Accounts, Crowdfunding to Move Illicit Funds
- NFIU reveals terrorist financiers employ 'identity laundering' using women's bank accounts for illicit transactions
- Coded transaction descriptions help terrorist networks evade detection, obscuring the true intent of payments
- Crowdfunding and remittance platforms exploited for financing terrorist activities, necessitating stronger monitoring efforts
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Pascal Oparada is a journalist with Legit.ng, covering technology, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy for over a decade.
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has uncovered increasingly sophisticated methods allegedly being used by terrorist financiers to move, conceal and distribute illicit funds in Nigeria.
The agency, in its 2025 annual report, said terrorist networks are exploiting legitimate banking, telecommunications and digital fundraising systems to disguise the movement of money and distance financiers from the actual beneficiaries.
Source: Getty Images
One of the emerging tactics involves opening bank accounts in the names of women, including wives, sisters and female associates, while male commanders or logistics managers secretly control the accounts.
The NFIU described the practice as “identity laundering”, saying it allows the real operators to create distance between themselves and suspicious financial transactions, according to reports by TheCable.
Women’s accounts used as financial fronts
According to the report, some women whose accounts are used may not even be aware of the transactions or the amount of money passing through their accounts.
The agency said male operators may retain control of ATM cards, mobile banking credentials and personal identification numbers linked to such accounts.
The NFIU said the practice exploits social and cultural assumptions that women may be less likely to attract suspicion during financial investigations.
It also identified the use of improperly registered or disconnected telephone numbers as another method of concealing financial activity.
According to the agency, pre-registered SIM cards, numbers registered to deceased individuals or telephone lines linked to unrelated people can be used to weaken the connection between an account holder and the person actually controlling transactions.
The practice, it said, can make it harder for investigators to establish the true identity of financial facilitators.
Coded transfers used to evade detection
The NFIU also highlighted the use of coded transaction descriptions by terrorist cells, including groups linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Some transactions reportedly contain detailed narrations that help operators organise payments between multiple recipients while concealing their actual purpose.
The agency said facilitators may use seemingly harmless words, secret codes, alphanumeric combinations and different languages to avoid automated banking filters designed to detect suspicious keywords.
Such tactics, the report noted, can make illicit transfers appear less suspicious while allowing terrorist networks to maintain internal records of payments.
Crowdfunding and remittance platforms exploited
The NFIU further warned that crowdfunding campaigns and international remittance platforms could be exploited to finance terrorist activities.
According to the report, foreign-based facilitators may present fundraising campaigns as humanitarian, educational or charitable appeals before directing donors to designated payment channels.
Small contributions from numerous donors can then be consolidated before being divided into smaller transfers and sent through money-transfer operators or remittance applications to intermediaries in Nigeria.
Source: Getty Images
The agency said students, small-business operators and relatives could be recruited as money mules to receive or move the funds.
The money may subsequently be converted to cash, used to purchase goods or transferred through mobile banking to individuals involved in terrorist logistics.
The NFIU said the findings highlight the growing sophistication of terrorist financing networks and the need for stronger monitoring of banking, telecommunications, remittance and digital fundraising channels.
Nigerian banks file 92% of suspicious transaction reports
Legit.ng earlier reported that Deposit Money Banks filed 38,715 of the 42,082 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) received by Nigeria's financial intelligence agency in 2025, representing about 92% of the total, according to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit's (NFIU) 2025 annual report.
The NFIU also received 41.7 million Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) and 10,513 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) during the same period.
Source: Legit.ng
