Cybercrime: EFCC-FBI Joint Operation Secures 41 Extraditions In Five Years

Nigeria and the United States have strengthened cooperation against cybercrime, with 41 extraditions facilitated through collaboration between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 2022. The United States disclosed this in a statement on Monday following a visit to Abuja by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Michael Gonzales.

According to the statement, Gonzales met with senior Nigerian government officials to discuss ways of strengthening joint efforts against financially motivated sextortion, romance scams and other forms of transnational cybercrime. The engagements, which coincided with Nigeria’s Cybercrime Awareness Week, involved officials from the EFCC, Office of the National Security Adviser, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and Nigeria Police Force.

Extraditions And Joint Investigations The statement by the Public Affairs Section of the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria disclosed that the 41 extraditions facilitated through the FBI Legal Attaché Office at the US Embassy in Abuja and the EFCC since 2022 include five completed in 2026. This, it said, represented a significant increase from 2012 to 2021, when both countries recorded four arrests and five extraditions.

The statement also disclosed that Nigeria extradited two alleged cybercriminals to the United States in August, facing charges in separate financially motivated sextortion cases involving American minors who died by suicide. The US official acknowledged the contributions of the EFCC, Federal Ministry of Justice and Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to investigations and extradition proceedings.

He also identified the need to expand cooperation beyond individual cases to tackling criminal networks, financial infrastructure and facilitators. Sextortion, Romance Scams The US government identified financially motivated sextortion as a growing threat to young people, citing more than 50,000 reports received by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2025, equivalent to about 137 reports daily.

“The FBI identifies Nigeria and other parts of West Africa, as well as Southeast Asia, among the locations where the most prevalent sextortion networks have operated. Through Operation Artemis and related efforts, the FBI works with Nigerian authorities to identify and disrupt the networks targeting Americans,” it stated. “The two countries are also focused on romance scams, which exploit trust and human relationships and can cost victims their life savings and retirement funds.” The statement noted that the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre launched a nationwide online-safety and cyber-hygiene campaign in March, targeting romance scams, sextortion, phishing, identity theft and business email compromise.

“In his meeting with the EFCC, DAS Gonzales commended the agency as one of Africa’s most recognized economic crime enforcement agencies, with a record of high-profile prosecutions, asset recovery, and public engagement. “The EFCC’s partnership with the FBI shows what effective international law enforcement cooperation looks like: sharing information, identifying suspects, making arrests, and working through complex extradition proceedings,” it added.

Nigeria-US Security Partnership The latest engagement builds on wider security cooperation between both countries, including the establishment of a Nigeria-US Joint Working Group to coordinate responses to shared security challenges. In November 2025, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu led a high-level Nigerian delegation to Washington, where it met officials from the US Congress, White House Faith Office, State Department, National Security Council and Department of War.

The delegation included the Attorney General of the Federation, Chief of Defence Staff and Inspector-General of Police. Subsequent engagements included meetings between Ribadu and US Vice President JD Vance in May 2026, and a visit by US Assistant Secretary of State Frank Garcia to Abuja in July. Discussions by the authorities covered counterterrorism, intelligence sharing, defence cooperation and regional security.

The US statement identified stronger information sharing, faster investigation of cyber and financial intelligence, wider public awareness and improved investigative and prosecutorial capacity as priorities for the next phase of cooperation.