Amid the fight against terrorism financing, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has alerted that an expanding crowdfunding network is being leveraged to raise and transfer funds for terrorist activities.
According to details from a senior NFIU official regarding the agency’s 2025 Annual Report published by The PUNCH, terrorist financiers are exploiting vulnerabilities in the banking sector.
Tactics include using phone numbers for mobile banking and account notifications that are unlinked to the actual account holder or beneficiary, as well as opening bank accounts under women’s names to evade detection.
The report highlights that these crowdfunding schemes typically involve foreign-based facilitators who solicit donations on social media platforms under the guise of funding educational or humanitarian initiatives. The collected funds are then funnelled through complex, multi-tiered transfers before ultimately reaching terrorist organizations operating in Nigeria.
The report noted that organizers urged hundreds of donors to contribute small sums—typically between $50 and $500—via PayPal pages or traditional bank accounts. By intentionally keeping individual transaction amounts low, the syndicates aimed to circumvent automated anti-money laundering thresholds and avoid triggering suspicious activity alerts within financial institutions.
It further revealed that the collected funds were consolidated into master accounts controlled by senior operatives who were legally residing overseas.
The report reads in part, “Terrorists are now using dead people’s SIM cards to raise funds. 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.”
Backstory…
This comes amid Nigeria’s battle with challenge the continuous evolution of insecurity. Terrorist groups and criminal networks are increasingly exploiting digital platforms, informal financial channels and legitimate-looking transactions, making it harder for authorities to distinguish ordinary donations from money intended to support violence.
There have also been recent moves to freeze assets belonging to people designated as terrorist financiers.
In August, the Securities and Exchange Commission directed capital-market operators to freeze funds and economic resources belonging to six individuals and three entities designated under Nigeria’s terrorism-sanctions framework.
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