Terrorists and extremist groups are increasingly exploiting crowdfunding networks, women’s bank accounts and unregistered phone numbers to raise and move funds for criminal activities, according to the 2026 Annual Nigeria Financial Intelligence Report.

The report by the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) said foreign-based facilitators were using social media to solicit donations under the guise of humanitarian relief and educational support before transferring the funds through multiple channels to terrorist operatives in Nigeria.

According to the report, sympathisers were encouraged to contribute between $50 and $500 through PayPal pages or conventional bank accounts, with the relatively small amounts intended to avoid triggering automated anti-money laundering alerts.

The NFIU said funds collected in master accounts controlled by senior members of the groups abroad were subsequently fragmented and transferred through international money transfer operators and remittance applications to money mules in Nigeria.

Students, small-business owners and relatives were among those identified as allegedly being used as money mules to obscure the origin and destination of the funds.

The agency said the money was later converted to cash or used to acquire dual-use items, including motorcycles, fertilisers and satellite internet equipment, before being transferred to logistics managers and field operatives.

The report also revealed that terrorist financiers were opening bank accounts in women’s names while male commanders and logistics managers secretly controlled the accounts.

The NFIU said the tactic exploited assumptions that women were less likely to attract suspicion from authorities, with wives, sisters and female associates sometimes used as fronts to distance illicit funds from the actual operatives.

It said some women were unaware of the transactions being conducted through their accounts.

The agency also identified the use of phone numbers that were not registered to account holders or actual beneficiaries for mobile banking and transaction alerts.

According to the report, pre-registered SIM cards, SIMs registered to deceased persons and SIMs linked to unrelated individuals were used to weaken the connection between bank accounts, phone numbers and Bank Verification Numbers.

The NFIU further said terrorist cells, particularly those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), used detailed transaction descriptions as part of an internal financial accounting system.

The agency said analysts had observed high-frequency logistics-related payments with detailed descriptions sent from a single source to multiple recipients.

However, some facilitators allegedly used seemingly harmless words, secret codes and alphanumeric strings to conceal the purpose of transactions and evade automated banking filters.

The NFIU said coded language was sometimes combined with different languages to make detection more difficult.

The report also identified an increasingly interconnected threat landscape involving financial crime, technology and cross-border activities.

It highlighted the growth of Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding arrangements, cryptocurrency-enabled investment scams and hacking-related fraud, including the compromise of social media and messaging accounts.

According to the NFIU, financial fraud remained a dominant predicate offence, with criminals increasingly exploiting weaknesses in fintech onboarding and accounts with minimal identification requirements to recruit victims and move funds rapidly.

The agency also identified persistent vulnerabilities in public-sector financial management, including the diversion of state and local government funds through accounts belonging to finance officers and associated third parties.

Procurement processes were also identified as a significant risk area, while the continued use of cash transactions was said to be complicating audit trails and efforts to trace illicit assets.