Nigeria’s anti-graft agency has dismantled what it described as an internet fraud training school in Abuja, arresting 31 suspects including two alleged kingpins in circumstances that reveal a criminal operation with characteristics of forced confinement and human exploitation.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) carried out the sting operation on Thursday, April 9, 2026, at a facility in Becki Estate, Karu, in the Federal Capital Territory. The suspects, who included the two alleged organisers and a cohort of recruits, were apprehended while actively undergoing internet fraud training. Items recovered during the raid included mobile phones, 18 laptop computers, and other electronic devices.
The EFCC said investigations revealed a structured recruitment scheme designed to draw in unsuspecting young people. Some of the recruits were lured from as far as Benue State with promises of legitimate job opportunities. Upon arrival, they were handed communication devices, computers, and software, and initiated into training in online scam operations.
What the agency described went beyond a fraud training arrangement. The academy operators reportedly confined recruits inside the facility, restricted their movement to the premises, and forcibly confiscated their mobile phones, effectively cutting them off from family and the outside world. Corporal punishment was also used against any recruit considered uncooperative or insufficiently committed to the training, according to the EFCC statement.
The agency said all 31 suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
The Karu bust follows a pattern of EFCC operations targeting organised cybercrime training networks across Nigeria, where fraud operators have increasingly adopted an academy-style model to recruit and professionalise a pipeline of cyber criminals. The use of coercive tactics against recruits, including detention and physical abuse, marks this case as particularly serious, adding potential human rights violations to the cybercrime charges the suspects may face.
