The Zonal Director of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission in charge of Edo, Delta and Ondo states, Effa Okim, has revealed how underage Internet fraudsters, commonly called Yahoo Boys, declare false age to obtain driving licence, which they then use to open bank accounts for warehousing illicit funds.
The zonal director revealed this during a courtesy visit to the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State chapter on Friday.
Okim said: “We hear that underage boys are being sent to jail, which is not right in the sight of the law. But most of them declare that they are 18 years old just to enable them to open bank accounts to put their criminal proceeds. When they are arrested, their parents say their children are underage.
“We are asking them, ‘Where were you when he got his driving licence? Where were you when your underage son opened an account? Where were you when your son was spending money in an irresponsible manner?”
The EFCC zonal director also said Edo State has the second-highest number of cyber fraud convicts after Lagos State.
He said, “The perpetrators of the crime that we call Yahoo Yahoo are visible on our streets. They are in the hotels and that is disturbing. Besides this, the statistics that we have show that Edo is second after Lagos in terms of conviction.
“Edo is not a big state compared to the level of convictions that happens in the state. it is not a good reputation and for me, Edo is too great Nigerian history to be associated with criminality.”
The Edo NUJ Chairman, Festus Alenkhe, urged the new zonal director to always make information available to journalists.
