NFIU: Terrorists use crowdfunding platforms to raise funds

Terrorist groups are increasingly exploiting crowdfunding platforms, social media and informal financial networks to raise and move money for their operations in Nigeria, according to the 2026 Annual Nigeria Financial Intelligence Report.

The report by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) said foreign-based facilitators were disguising fundraising campaigns as humanitarian or educational appeals before transferring the proceeds to terrorist operatives in Nigeria.

It said contributors were often encouraged to donate between $50 and $500 through PayPal pages and conventional bank accounts, with the relatively small amounts designed to avoid triggering automated anti-money laundering alerts.

The NFIU said the facilitators promoted the campaigns on social media and used encrypted messaging applications to circulate payment links and bank account details.

Funds raised through the campaigns were reportedly consolidated in master accounts controlled by senior members of the groups based abroad before being transferred to Nigeria through several channels.

“When the pool reaches a threshold, that account becomes the hub for onward movement. The funds would subsequently be fragmented into dozens of smaller payments and transferred through International Money Transfer Operators and remittance applications to a network of money mules in Nigeria,” the report stated.

The NFIU said students, small-business owners and relatives were among those allegedly used as money mules.

It said the money was subsequently converted into cash or used to purchase items including motorcycles, fertilisers and satellite internet equipment before being transferred through mobile banking channels to logistics managers and field operatives.

The report also revealed that terrorist financiers were opening bank accounts in women’s names while male commanders and logistics managers secretly controlled the accounts.

According to the NFIU, wives, sisters and female associates were sometimes used as fronts to distance illicit funds from the actual operatives.

The agency said the tactic exploited social and cultural assumptions that women were less likely to attract suspicion from authorities.

“This tactic functions as identity laundering: women’s accounts are managed by men who hold ATM cards, mobile-banking credentials and PINs, while the women often remain unaware of the transactions and volumes,” the report stated.

The NFIU also identified the use of telephone numbers that were not registered to account holders or actual beneficiaries for mobile banking and transaction alerts.

It said facilitators used pre-registered SIM cards, SIMs registered to deceased persons or SIMs linked to other individuals to weaken the connection between bank accounts, SIM cards and Bank Verification Numbers.

“This severs the audit trail: when a transaction is flagged, investigators trace the phone to an unrelated person, letting the real facilitator stay anonymous and continue operations,” it stated.

The report further said terrorist cells, particularly those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), used detailed transaction descriptions as part of an internal accounting system.

According to the NFIU, the groups operated with structured financial controls, requiring detailed descriptions to enable field commanders to account for expenditures to central financial controllers.

It said analysts had observed high-frequency, logistics-related payments from a single source to multiple recipients.

However, some facilitators reportedly used seemingly harmless words, secret codes and alphanumeric strings in transaction descriptions to conceal the purpose of transfers.

The agency said the coded language was sometimes combined with different languages to evade automated banking filters designed to detect terms associated with terrorism financing.

The NFIU also said its analysis showed an increasingly interconnected threat involving financial crime, technology and cross-border activities.

It identified rising cases of Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding arrangements, cryptocurrency-enabled investment scams and hacking-related fraud, including the compromise of social media and messaging accounts.

The report said financial fraud remained a dominant predicate offence, with criminals increasingly exploiting weaknesses in fintech onboarding systems, including tiered accounts with minimal identification requirements.

It added that digital platforms were being used to rapidly recruit victims and move illicit funds.

On corruption and misappropriation of public funds, the NFIU said the diversion of state and local government funds through accounts belonging to finance officers and associated third parties remained a concern.

It also identified procurement processes as a significant risk area, while the continued use of cash transactions was making it more difficult to establish audit trails and trace assets.