Terrorists using women’s bank accounts, d3ad persons’ phone numbers, crowdfunding platforms to move and conceal funds – Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has uncovered emerging methods allegedly being used by terrorist financiers to move and conceal funds, including the use of bank accounts belonging to women, disconnected phone numbers, coded transaction descriptions and crowdfunding platforms.

The findings are contained in the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, which identifies the methods as part of evolving financial networks supporting terrorist operations in Nigeria.

According to the report, male terrorist commanders and logistics managers sometimes control accounts opened in the names of wives, sisters and other female associates. 

The accounts, the NFIU said, are used to distance the actual operators from illicit funds, while some of the women whose accounts are used may be unaware of the transactions taking place.

The financial intelligence agency also identified the use of pre-registered SIM cards, numbers registered to deceased persons and phone lines linked to other individuals to facilitate mobile banking and account alerts. 

It said the practice weakens the link between telephone numbers and Bank Verification Numbers, making financial transactions more difficult for investigators to trace.

The NFIU further said terrorist cells, including those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, use coded and seemingly innocuous descriptions for transactions to conceal the purpose of payments. 

It said facilitators may use secret codes, alphanumeric combinations or different languages to evade automated banking filters designed to detect terrorism-related transactions.

The report also detailed a crowdfunding model in which foreign-based facilitators allegedly use social media campaigns presented as humanitarian or educational appeals to raise funds. 

Hundreds of donors may contribute relatively small amounts, which are later consolidated and transferred through international money-transfer operators and remittance applications to networks of Nigerian money mules.

The agency said students, small-business owners and relatives could be used as intermediaries, receiving funds that may subsequently be converted to cash, used to purchase dual-use items or transferred to terrorist logistics managers and field operatives.

The NFIU’s findings underscore the growing sophistication of terrorist financing networks and the security challenge posed by the exploitation of legitimate banking, telecommunications and digital fundraising systems to sustain insurgent operations.