EFCC busts ‘yahoo academy’ in Abuja, arrests 31 suspects

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday said it arrested 31 suspected internet fraudsters in a sting operation at an alleged “Yahoo academy” in Karu, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

In a statement on Thursday shared on their official X page, the commission said the suspects were nabbed at Becki Estate “while undergoing internet fraud tutorials,” adding that they comprise “two kingpins and interns.”

The EFCC said items recovered from the suspects include “phones, 18 laptop computers and other gadgets.”

According to the statement, investigations revealed that some of the trainees were “lured all the way from Benue State by the academy proprietors with the promise of job offers,” but were instead recruited into cyber fraud.

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The commission added that “upon settling down at the facility, (they) were handed communication devices, computers and software, setting the stage for their training in cyber fraud.”

It further stated that the suspects were confined within the premises, noting that “the proprietors house the recruits in the academy and restrict their movements strictly within the perimeters of the facility.”

The EFCC said the operators also “forcibly took possession of their mobile phones, thus totally cutting them off from the outside world.”

The agency disclosed that “corporal punishment was the order of the day,” adding that “heavy-handed physical assault (was) meted out to interns who were seen to be recalcitrant.”

The commission said the suspects “will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.”