EFCC bust 800 scam sites and 18 Syndicates

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has shut down 800 scam websites and arrested members of 18 syndicates behind cyber crime in Nigeria. This renewed crack down on cyber crime by the EFCC is under a new campaign called operation "Eagle Claw".

The chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mrs. Farida Waziri made the announcement while attending the 35th annual convention of Black Mayors on "global vision for local action: a paradigm of connectivity in the African Diaspora." The convention was held on Wednesday in Las Vegas, United States.

Here are some statements Waziri made at the convention: 

"We expect that Eagle Claw as conceived will be 100% operational within six months and at full capacity, it will take Nigeria out of the top 10 list of countries with the highest incidence of fraudulent e-mails. At the moment, Eagle Claw has delivered the following results:

"Over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down. The EFCC is fine-tuning security modalities with Microsoft and, upon full deployment, the capacity to take down fraudulent e-mails will increase to 5,000 monthly.

"Further, it is projected that advisory mails to be sent to victims and potential victims will be about 230,000 monthly. There have been 18 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber crime organisations."

"Project Eagle Claw is an initiative of the EFCC for the smart use of technology in fighting cyber crime. Hitherto, the EFCC structure for combating cyber crime revolved around cyber raids and investigation of petitions.

"However, the proactive stance of the new leadership required a radical departure, and Eagle Claw was developed. When it is fully deployed, it will afford the EFCC the option of either monitoring or shutting down all fraudulent email addresses. The EFCC would also have identified victims and potential victims and advised them that their email has been compromised."

Leadership

Related stories: Video report on the EFCC crackdown on corruption in Nigeria

Nigerian scammers scammed and arrested

Nigerian government reacts to Sony's Playstation 3 Ad