The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) says terrorist financiers are increasingly exploiting women’s bank accounts, crowdfunding platforms and remittance services to move and conceal illicit funds.
The agency disclosed this in its 2025 annual report on emerging methods being used to finance terrorist operations in Nigeria.
According to the NFIU, male commanders and logistics managers sometimes control accounts opened in the names of their wives, sisters and female associates.
The agency said the practice allows financiers to distance themselves from suspicious transactions by using women as fronts.
The NFIU described the method as “identity laundering”, noting that some women whose accounts are used may be unaware of the transactions or the amount of money passing through their accounts.
It said the men may retain access to the accounts through ATM cards, mobile banking credentials and personal identification numbers.
The agency also identified the use of proxy phone numbers as another method of concealing financial activities.
According to the report, facilitators may use pre-registered SIM cards, SIM cards registered to deceased persons or numbers linked to other individuals for mobile banking and transaction alerts.
The NFIU said this can make it difficult for investigators to trace transactions to the individuals actually controlling the funds.
The agency further said terrorist groups, including those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), use coded transaction descriptions to conceal payments.
It said facilitators may use ordinary words, alphanumeric strings, secret codes and different languages to evade automated banking filters designed to flag suspicious terms.
Crowdfunding, remittance platforms
The NFIU also warned that crowdfunding campaigns and international remittance platforms could be exploited to finance terrorist activities.
According to the report, foreign-based facilitators may create social media campaigns presented as humanitarian or educational appeals and direct donors to payment pages or bank accounts.
The agency said hundreds of sympathisers could contribute relatively small amounts, which may be less likely to trigger automated anti-money laundering alerts.
The funds can then be consolidated into a master account before being split into smaller transfers and sent through international money-transfer operators and remittance applications to money mules in Nigeria.
The NFIU said students, small-business owners and relatives could be recruited as intermediaries.
These recipients may convert the funds to cash, purchase dual-use items or transfer the money through mobile banking to terrorist logistics managers and field operatives.
The agency said the findings show that terrorist financing networks are increasingly exploiting legitimate banking, telecommunications and digital fundraising systems to conceal and move illicit funds.
