NFIU Alerts Banks On Use Of Counterfeit Documents To Claim Funds Abroad

THE Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has issued a disclaimer on fraudulent petitions involving the recovery of electronic wire transfers from foreign banks into Nigerian bank accounts. NFIU, in a June 2024 report, said it was committed to providing timely advice to its stakeholders via an evidence based approach from relevant case studies. According to NFIU, the report provides information on emerging trends, patterns, suspicious activities, and methods intended to exploit the vulnerabilities of the financial system for illegitimate and unlawful activities. “This advisory became necessary due to numerous petitions received by the NFIU from financial institutions, government agencies, and other third parties seeking assistance towards the tracing and recovery of funds transferred from foreign entities to their business partners in Nigeria,” NFIU said. “The advisory aims to draw the attention of relevant stakeholders and the general public to the red flags as well as the emerging trends that have been observed most especially the use of forged documents by fraudsters to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.” It explained that from its findings, deceptive fraudulent petitions involving the tracing and recovery of funds allegedly transferred from foreign banks to Nigerian banks are becoming a recurrent threat to not only the targeted victim(s) but Financial Institutions, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), and other government agencies. It said a law firm once submitted a petition on behalf of its client, an NGO, requesting the NFIU and other relevant agencies to trace and recover the sum of €30,000,000,000.00, transferred from a foreign bank to a bank in Nigeria, claiming the funds had been blocked by a financial institution in Nigeria. According to the petition, the purpose of the funds is for investment in the real estate sector. NFIU warned financial institutions and the public to be vigilant and adopt recommendations that will help to further safeguard important documents from being easily accessible to prevent their use as a backup for such petitions. “The public should exercise some level of scepticism when dealing with telegraphic transfer documents from major European banks as nearly all frivolous claims emanate from same jurisdictions and banks abroad.” In its recommendations, NFIU advised that upon receipt of a letter from a customer anticipating huge inflow, evidenced by the usual Telex copy, the financial institution should immediately conduct Enhanced Due Diligence, sufficient to establish the authenticity or otherwise of the document presented.