According to a This Day report, the Federal Government and the CBN were warned by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation on the activities of fraudsters using cryptocurrencies to bring into the country hundreds of millions of US Dollars illegally obtained from the USA and other Western economies.
This was said to have particularly targeted COVID-19 stimulus packages designed to cushion the impact of lockdown measures on businesses and working families in these countries.
FBI had discovered that fraudulent Nigerians, popularly known as yahoo boys, took control of large chunks of money released as stimulus in the wake of the devastating effects of the COVID-19, which has put many Americans out of jobs.
In order to avoid detection, these fraudsters had been sending millions of dollars to Nigeria through cryptocurrencies which has made it difficult for the authorities in both Nigeria and the US to trace the illicit monies.
Highly placed sources within the presidency said these fraudsters remitted between two hundred and three hundred million dollars to Nigeria every week, using cryptocurrencies.
