Cybercrimes: EFCC warns landlords, hoteliers against accommodating ‘Yahoo Boys’

*Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says Section 3 of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 stipulates between five and 15-year prison term without option of fine for any person permitting his/her premises for cybercriminals

Isola Moses |  ConsumerConnect

In order to avoid what the anti-graft regulatory agency has described as “cold complicity” by landlords and hospitality entrepreneurs, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has issued a strong warning to landlords’ leasing their houses to Internet fraudsters, otherwise known as ‘Yahoo Boys’ in local parlance.

ConsumerConnect reports the EFCC stated the agency would host a conversation on Twitter Spaces Wednesday, June 29, 2022, to educate  Nigerians.

However, the Commission’s selected topic for the online discussion, ‘Give Your House To Yahoo Boys, Spend 15 Years In Jail’, has elicited reactions across several social media platforms, and offline.

It was learnt Michael Nzekwe, Zonal Commander, had expressed concern about the “cold complicity by hospitality entrepreneurs”.

Nzekwe also accused some of them of working with suspected fraudsters by housing them over a long period and making Internet facilities available.

The EFCC Zonal Commander said such an act negated Section 3 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.

He as well stated: “The section provides for a prison term of between five and 15 years without option of fine for any person who permits his premises to be used for any offence under the Act.”

In regard to the contention that hoteliers are business people and cannot determine who a fraudster really is, Nzekwe nonetheless, explained the law doesn’t recognise the position.

The anti-corruption Commission rather noted such business people should always ask their customers for means of identification and to include their occupations during check-in procedure at their facilities.