International Alarm as Chinese Cyber Gang "Steals from Thieves" in Africa's Biggest Scam

The largest transnational cybercrime case in African history has recently been cracked! When Nigerian police raided a mysterious base in Lagos, they discovered a "hacker matrix" composed of 1,596 laptop computers. Even more shocking, a transnational criminal alliance of 148 Chinese technical personnel and 644 local "Yahoo Boys" was uncovered, taking cryptocurrency fraud to a new level.

Details of the operation, revealed on April 27th, show that this super-criminal group rented 73 villas as "scam compounds," each equipped with 22 professional mining rigs. They not only built underground server rooms using 400 industrial-grade refrigerators but also combined Chinese "pig butchering" scam tactics with traditional Nigerian online fraud to develop a "love + virtual currency" double-pronged scheme targeting the Western and Chinese middle class.

"These Chinese hackers brought a sophisticated division of labor," an insider revealed. The group employed military-style management, with technicians housed in air-conditioned single rooms while local scammers slept on hundreds of bunk beds, working in 16-hour shifts daily. Among the thousands of mobile phones seized were a large number of fake virtual currency trading platforms and video templates of blonde women.

Interestingly, the Nigerian EFCC's operation stemmed from anomalies in the cryptocurrency market. Abnormal fluctuations in a certain virtual currency wallet exposed their money-laundering network. Following the trail, police discovered that the group smuggled millions of US dollars in illicit gains monthly through the refrigerators. Experts point out that this marks the upgrade of African cybercrime from "small workshops" to a transnational technological crime industry chain.

This case exposes a more dangerous signal: as China intensifies its crackdown on fraud, some criminal gangs are beginning to relocate to regions with weaker rule of law. Nigeria's cybersecurity vulnerabilities are being seen as a "digital gold mine" by international criminal groups. This joint Sino-Nigerian crackdown may become a watershed moment in African cyber governance.