NFIU Exposes New Terrorist Crowdfunding Tactics

The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) disclosed in its 2025 Annual Report that terrorist organizations are employing new crowdfunding tactics to finance their operations. These tactics include opening bank accounts in women's names and using unregistered phone numbers for mobile banking.

Foreign-based facilitators solicit donations on social media under the pretense of humanitarian relief or educational support, encouraging small contributions ranging from $50 to $500 to avoid detection by automated anti-money laundering systems. The funds are pooled into a "master account" controlled by a senior group member abroad and then fragmented into smaller payments sent through International Money Transfer Operators (IMTO) to money mules in Nigeria, including students and small-business owners.

The final stage involves integrating these funds into terrorist financing, with an emerging technique involving gender-based proxy accounts, where male operatives control accounts opened in women's names.