The 2026 Annual Nigeria Financial Intelligence Report has flagged a growing trend of terrorist and extremist groups turning to online crowdfunding platforms to bankroll their operations, according to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
The report also found that terrorist financiers are opening bank accounts in women’s names and using SIM cards not registered to the actual account holders, tactics designed to throw investigators off the trail.
Crowdfunding as a funding channel
According to the NFIU, foreign-based facilitators run social media campaigns soliciting donations under the cover of humanitarian or educational causes, then move the money through several layers before it reaches operatives in Nigeria. Encrypted messaging apps are typically used to circulate links to payment pages and bank accounts.
Contributions, the report noted, often range between $50 and $500 — amounts small enough to slip past automated anti-money laundering alerts. Once pooled in master accounts controlled by senior members based abroad, the funds are broken into smaller transfers and routed through international money transfer operators and remittance apps to networks of money mules inside Nigeria — among them students, small business owners and relatives of the operatives.
The report said the cash is often converted or used to buy dual-use items such as motorcycles, fertiliser and satellite internet equipment, before reaching field commanders through mobile banking channels.
Women’s accounts used as cover
The NFIU said male commanders and logistics managers are increasingly using women’s bank accounts as fronts, banking on the assumption that women draw less scrutiny from authorities. In many cases, the report said, the women whose names are on the accounts have no knowledge of the transactions running through them, while men retain control of the ATM cards, PINs and mobile banking credentials.
Investigators are also grappling with the use of phone numbers that aren’t linked to real account holders — including SIMs registered to deceased persons — which weakens the trail between bank accounts, SIM cards and Bank Verification Numbers.
Coded transfers tied to ISWAP
The report further linked cells affiliated with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) to a structured internal accounting system, where field commanders provide detailed transaction descriptions to account for spending to central controllers. Some facilitators, however, use coded language, alphanumeric strings or mixed languages in transfer descriptions to dodge automated filters built to catch terrorism-related keywords.
Wider financial crime picture
Beyond terrorism financing, the NFIU reported a broader rise in financial crime — Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding, cryptocurrency investment scams and hacking-linked fraud, including compromised social media and messaging accounts. The report attributed much of this to weak fintech onboarding controls, particularly tiered accounts with minimal identification requirements.
On public-sector corruption, the NFIU pointed to persistent risks around the diversion of state and local government funds through finance officers’ accounts, alongside continuing vulnerabilities in procurement processes and heavy reliance on cash transactions that complicate efforts to trace assets.
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