EFCC Speaks On Offering N1m To ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ Informants

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has denied a viral report that the commission is offering money to anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of internet fraudsters, better known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo Boys’.

The Nigeria anti-graft agency in a statement made available to newsmen by its Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, distanced itself from the public notice, urged the general public to disregard the report.

The commission said the “clarification became necessary following phone calls by citizens wanting to cash in on notices in the social media by fraudsters promising a reward of One Million Naira (₦1,000,000) for friends, family, and relatives of Yahoo Boys who hand them over to the EFCC.”

Naija News understands that one of the notices which the agency frowned at had hashtags #EFCC and #beagoodcitizen. It reads: “If you have a Yahoo Yahoo boy as family, friend or relative, kindly hand them over to us, and get a massive reward of 1million naira.”

Condemning perpetrators of the public notice, Uwujaren, “Promoters of the hashtags are currently under surveillance and every effort will be made to bring them to justice.

“While the Commission welcomes information that could lead to the arrest of cybercrime suspects, it has no policy of financial reward for such informants.

He added: “The fight against corruption and other forms of economic crime is a patriotic duty and Nigerians are encouraged to embrace it with altruism.

“The whistleblower policy of the Federal Government which the Commission is among the agencies saddled with its implementation is applicable only to public sector corruption.

“The public is warned that the Commission will not be responsible for anyone who falls for this obvious scam.”

Meanwhile, EFCC in one of the posts on its Twitter handle, insists that the commission will never charge any citizen a penny for submission of a petition.

The tweet reads: “Reporting a financial and economic crime is FREE! The EFCC will NEVER charge you any money to submit a petition. You can forward petitions to our email: [email protected]. 

“If you see something, say something and EFCC will do something.” 

See the post below:

Reporting a financial and economic crime is FREE!
The EFCC will NEVER charge you any money to submit a petition.
You can forward petitions to our email: [email protected].

If you see something, say something and EFCC will do something.#SayNoToCorruption#TheEagleIsAlive pic.twitter.com/1GyQqu9Dyv

— EFCC Nigeria (@officialEFCC) May 4, 2021

Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, has called for the imprisonment of the Senate Minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, over his failure to produce the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Wase spoke on the issue during the plenary session on Thursday while contributing to a motion of privilege sponsored by Sada Soli from Kaduna state, Naija News reports.