A scam call centre in the Philippines has been exposed for pretending to operate from Abuja, Nigeria, part of a growing trend of foreign-based fraud operations hiding behind Nigeria’s name to deceive victims.
A video that recently went viral on social media and seen by First News, showed a group of operators in the scam call centre, located in Cebu City, Philippines, falsely claiming to be based in Nigeria.
In the footage, the victim asked, “What part of the world are you calling from?”, to which the scam caller replied, “Oh, basically we’re local here in Abuja… capital of Nigeria,” while simultaneously conducting a Google search for Abuja, Nigeria.
The footage has stirred outrage among Nigerians and renewed attention to the global scale of cybercrime, one that often paints Nigeria as the face of internet fraud.
“Nigeria is not even in the top 10 internet scammers’ nations, yet we are the loudest,” wrote Stephen Osemwegie in response to the clip, echoing a frustration felt by many who believe Nigeria is unfairly stigmatised.
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First News recalls a coordinated raid by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on November 2024, in Jahi, Abuja, which saw the arrest of 113 foreign nationals, including 87 men and 26 women from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, and Malaysia, allegedly involved in cybercrime.
Also, on December 10, 2024, during a surprise operation at a seven-storey building on Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, which appeared to be a corporate headquarters, to train Nigerian recruits in executing scams, foreigners including 148 Chinese, 40 Filipinos, two Kazakhs, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian were arrested.
Despite Nigeria’s long-standing association with online fraud, experts and international bodies like the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime are now pointing to other countries, like the Philippines, as major players in these schemes.
Still, many of these operations intentionally impersonate Nigerians to mask their true origin and exploit global stereotypes.
The revelations have renewed calls for stronger international cooperation. Cybercrime has grown beyond borders, and experts say tackling it will require a global strategy, one that includes targeting syndicates, protecting victims of trafficking, and correcting harmful narratives about countries wrongly implicated.
As the digital world expands, the exposure of these foreign-run scams using Nigeria as a smokescreen is a step toward addressing a far more complex and international web of deception.