The Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has uncovered emerging methods allegedly being used by terrorist financiers to raise, transfer and conceal funds for operations in Nigeria. The findings, contained in the agency’s 2025 Annual Report, revealed the use of crowdfunding campaigns, proxy bank accounts and phone numbers registered to deceased persons to obscure the identities of those controlling illicit funds. 

According to the NFIU, foreign-based facilitators use social media to solicit donations under the guise of humanitarian or educational support, with contributors typically making payments of between $50 and $500. The funds are later pooled into accounts controlled by senior members of the network before being broken into smaller transfers and moved through international money transfer operators and remittance platforms to money mules in Nigeria.

The agency also identified what it described as “identity laundering”, involving bank accounts opened in women’s names but secretly controlled by male commanders or logistics managers. It said terrorist financiers also use pre-registered SIM cards and phone numbers linked to deceased persons or other proxies for mobile banking and transaction alerts, making it more difficult for investigators to trace the actual beneficiaries.

The NFIU further disclosed that some terrorist cells, including those linked to ISWAP, use coded or seemingly harmless descriptions for transactions to evade automated banking filters. The agency called for stronger verification of account holders and closer monitoring of links between bank accounts, BVNs, NINs and SIM cards to disrupt illicit financial flows and prevent terrorist networks from exploiting weaknesses in Nigeria’s financial system.