The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says underage persons involved in internet fraud are resorting to forging their ages to open bank accounts and obtain driver’s licences
This, the anti-graft said is enabling the young ‘yahoo boys’ to launder proceeds from their illicit activities.
Effa Okim, the EFCC Zonal Director for Edo, Delta, and Ondo States, disclosed this during a weekend courtesy visit to the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by Comrade Festus Alenkhe.
Okim expressed concern over the fraudulent practices of underage Yahoo boys, who deceive authorities by falsely declaring themselves to be 18 years old to open bank accounts.
He lamented that when these individuals are apprehended for their criminal acts, their parents often claim they are underage, despite evidence of their involvement in criminal activities.
“The underaged Yahoo boys go and meet some authorities and do age declaration stating that they are 18 years old just to enable them to open accounts and put their criminal structures in place and at the end when they are arrested, their fathers will be saying their children are underage,” he said.
The Director warned that parents of convicted Yahoo boys who colluded in the forgery of documents would face legal consequences.
He disclosed that Edo State ranks second only to Lagos in terms of convictions, a fact that he deemed alarming and damaging to the state’s reputation.
