By Festus Fifen

The Nigeria Police Force has urged Nigerians to be careful about the networks they connect to and the information they share online especially when using Free Internet Networks in public places, as fraudsters increasingly use digital platforms to target victims with investment scams, romance fraud and sexual extortion especially financial scams

The director of the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), AIG Akaninyene Ezima, spoke at a cybercrime awareness walk in Abuja.

AIG Ezima who spoke while responding questions from Journalists the walk said the fight against cybercrime is about prevention as much as arrests and prosecution.

“It is not all about enforcement. This is more about sensitisation. This is more about letting the people know what they should and should not do,”

AIG Ezima named investment fraud as one of the most commonly reported cybercrimes. Victims are lured with promises of extraordinary returns from the stock market and other ventures, and shown online dashboards with steadily growing profits.

Some Nigerians have lost hundreds of millions of naira, and others lost billions. He questioned schemes promising 30 per cent monthly returns when savings interest rates in Nigeria are far lower, and advised investors to verify any opportunity before committing funds.

AIG Ezima also used the awareness walk to raise alarm over romance scams and sextortion.

According to him, fraudsters build online relationships to obtain intimate photographs, then threaten to publish them when the relationship sours or the victim refuses further demands.

Ezima urged Nigerians to be cautious about sharing personal information, photographs and financial details online.

He rejected the view that cybercrime in Nigeria is committed only by Nigerians. The country is also a target for international criminal networks, he said, and police have arrested foreign nationals in cybercrime cases.

DIG Kenechukwu Onwuemelie, who oversees the Department of Logistics and Supply at Force Headquarters, said the programme reflects the Inspector-General’s broader approach to internal security. He described cybersecurity as a key part of national security. The event capped a week-long awareness initiative.

On his part one of the partners PalmPay Nigeria’s managing director, Chika Reginald Nwosu, said the fintech firm is backing the campaign for a second straight year because security technology must be paired with consumer education.

He urged customers to keep their PINs, passwords and one-time passwords confidential.

Nwosu said the company’s internal reviews found that about 85 per cent of the fraud cases it examined involved victims who had compromised their own security details.

PalmPay has added safeguards such as facial verification, he said.

Ezima thanked the Inspector-General, Olatunji Disu, for supporting the centre, and acknowledged the media’s role in spreading prevention messages.