The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit has uncovered emerging methods allegedly being used by terrorist financiers to raise, move and conceal funds for operations in Nigeria.
According to the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, foreign-based facilitators are exploiting social media platforms to run crowdfunding campaigns disguised as humanitarian relief or educational support. The funds are subsequently channelled through multiple layers before reaching terrorist operatives in Nigeria.
The report said donors are often encouraged to contribute relatively small amounts, typically between $50 and $500, through online payment platforms or conventional bank accounts. The donations are then pooled in a master account controlled by a senior member of the network.
Rather than transferring the money in one large transaction, the funds are reportedly divided into numerous smaller payments and sent through international money transfer operators and remittance applications to money mules in Nigeria.
The NFIU identified students, small-business owners and relatives among those allegedly used as money mules. Upon receiving the funds, they may be used to obtain cash or purchase items such as motorcycles, fertiliser and satellite internet equipment before the money is transferred to logistics managers and field operatives.
The financial intelligence agency also identified what it described as gender-based proxy accounts as another emerging method of terrorist financing.
According to the report, accounts may be opened in the names of women while being secretly controlled by male commanders or logistics managers. Wives, sisters or female associates could allegedly be used as fronts to distance illicit funds from the actual operators.
The NFIU further raised concern over the use of telephone numbers that are not registered to the account holders or actual beneficiaries. It said facilitators were using pre-registered SIM cards, including SIMs registered to deceased persons, as well as numbers linked to proxy accounts.
The agency said the practice makes it more difficult for investigators to establish the connection between bank accounts, SIM cards and Bank Verification Numbers, thereby helping the actual facilitators remain anonymous.
The report also identified coded transaction descriptions as another technique used to disguise terrorist financing. While some terrorist cells reportedly use detailed descriptions for internal financial tracking, others allegedly use ordinary words, codes and alphanumeric strings to conceal the true purpose of payments and avoid automated banking filters.
The NFIU said some of these activities were particularly associated with networks linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province, with frequent logistics-related transfers being made from single sources to multiple recipients.
Beyond terrorism financing, the agency said its analysis also identified growing risks involving financial fraud, fraudulent crowdfunding, cryptocurrency-related investment scams, Ponzi schemes and hacking-related fraud.
The NFIU said the findings had been converted into targeted advisories, executive alerts and intelligence products intended to assist relevant authorities, financial institutions and policymakers in responding to emerging financial crime threats.
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