Terrorist financiers in Nigeria have adopted new ways to hide the movement of illicit funds, including the use of SIM cards registered to people who have died.
According to Daily Post, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) made the disclosure in its 2025 Annual Report. The agency said criminal networks now exploit gaps between SIM registration, bank accounts and Bank Verification Numbers (BVN).
The NFIU said some facilitators use pre-registered SIM cards for mobile banking and transaction alerts. Others use dead persons’ SIM cards or numbers linked to proxy account holders.
This method can make financial investigations harder. Investigators may trace a phone number to someone who has no connection with the suspicious transaction.
The agency said this practice weakens the link between a customer’s phone number and financial identity. It also makes it harder to identify the person who actually controls the money.
The NFIU also raised concerns about bank accounts opened in women’s names. According to the agency, some male commanders and logistics managers secretly control such accounts.
Wives, sisters and female associates may serve as fronts for the transactions. The agency described the practice as “identity laundering.”
In some cases, the real operators may hold the ATM cards, mobile banking details and PINs. However, the account may carry another person’s name.
The NFIU said some account holders may not even know the nature or volume of transactions carried out through their accounts.
The agency also identified crowdfunding as another channel that terrorist financiers can exploit. Foreign-based facilitators may use social media to seek donations under humanitarian or educational claims.
Hundreds of people may send small amounts through online payment platforms or bank accounts. The network can then combine the funds and move them through several channels.
The NFIU said such methods show how terrorist financing continues to adapt to digital banking and payment systems. The use of dead persons’ SIM cards adds another layer of difficulty for investigators.
The agency identified weak customer identification controls and disconnected SIM-BVN links as key risks. It stressed the need for stronger checks across Nigeria’s financial system.
The findings highlight the growing challenge of tracking money in an increasingly digital economy. For investigators, connecting the person behind a transaction to the identity on record remains crucial.
