The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has uncovered emerging tactics used by terrorist financiers to conceal the identities of those controlling illicit funds, including the use of pre-registered SIM cards, accounts linked to deceased persons and bank accounts opened in women’s names.
The disclosure was contained in the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, which identified weak customer identification controls, disconnected SIM-Bank Verification Number (BVN) linkages and proxy accounts as emerging enablers of financial crime and terrorist financing.
According to the report, terrorist financiers exploit gaps between mobile phone identities and financial records by using SIM cards that are not registered to the actual users of bank accounts.
The agency said some facilitators use pre-registered SIM cards, SIMs registered to deceased persons and SIMs linked to gender-based proxies to bypass security mechanisms connecting SIM cards with BVNs.
“They bypass the security link between SIM cards and Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) by using pre-registered SIMs, SIMs registered to deceased people, or SIMs tied to gender-based proxies,” the report said.
The NFIU explained that the practice makes it harder for investigators to identify individuals behind suspicious transactions because phone numbers used for mobile banking, transaction notifications and account alerts may belong to people with no connection to the transactions.
“This severs the audit trail: when a transaction is flagged, investigators trace the phone to an unrelated person, letting the real facilitator stay anonymous and continue operations,” it added.
Women’s accounts used as proxies
The NFIU also identified proxy bank accounts as another method used to distance terrorist financiers from illicit funds.
According to the agency, accounts are sometimes opened in women’s names while male commanders, logistics managers or other operatives secretly control them.
The report said wives, sisters and female associates may be used as fronts for financial transactions, exploiting social and cultural expectations that could make women less likely to attract suspicion.
The NFIU described the practice as “identity laundering”, saying the accounts may be controlled by men who possess the associated ATM cards, mobile banking credentials and personal identification numbers.
“This tactic functions as identity laundering: women’s accounts are managed by men who hold ATM cards, mobile-banking credentials, and PINs, while the women often remain unaware of the transactions and volumes,” the report said.
The agency said such arrangements create a layer of separation between the actual operators and the accounts through which illicit funds are transferred, making it harder to establish the ultimate beneficiaries.
It consequently listed weak customer identification controls, disconnected SIM-BVN linkages and limited oversight of some digital financial services among the emerging enablers of financial crime recorded in 2025.
Regulators strengthen digital identity controls
The NFIU’s findings come amid efforts by Nigerian regulators and identity-management authorities to strengthen links between digital identities, mobile numbers and financial accounts.
In July 2025, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) announced that telecommunications operators had migrated to its NINAuth platform, designed to strengthen National Identification Number (NIN) verification and improve the security of Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem.
In January 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directed banks and other financial institutions to strengthen their responses to electronic fraud threats, including SIM-swap attacks, social engineering and insider compromise.
The CBN also stressed the importance of effective Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Device (KYD) processes supported by real-time validation against NIN and BVN databases.
In March 2026, the apex bank introduced additional security requirements for mobile banking and digital payment services, including real-time validation of online account openings and account reactivations against BVN and NIN databases.
Financial institutions were also required to deploy fraud-monitoring systems capable of detecting suspicious transactions in real time.
SEC steps up terrorism-financing monitoring
The measures come alongside broader efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s financial intelligence and sanctions-monitoring framework.
On August 12, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directed all capital market-regulated entities to subscribe to the Nigeria Sanctions (NigSac) Alerts system.
The system provides alerts on individuals and entities designated for terrorism financing and proliferation financing.
The SEC directed market operators to immediately freeze funds and other economic resources belonging to designated individuals and entities, report such actions to the Nigeria Sanctions Committee and file suspicious transaction reports with the NFIU.
The NFIU said the growing use of technology-enabled channels, identity proxies and gaps in digital identity verification underscores the need for stronger controls across Nigeria’s financial system.
It said closing gaps between mobile identities, BVNs, NINs and account ownership remains critical to improving the ability of financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to trace and disrupt illicit financial flows.
