The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday warned Nigerians to stop patronizing illegal money transfer operators.
In a statement issued by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, the bank said Nigerians risk being defrauded by the illegal operators.
The statement reads in part, “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to the increasing patronage of illegal Money Transfer Operators by Nigerians in the Diaspora for the purpose of home remittances.
“These unscrupulous operators, who lure unsuspecting customers with ridiculous exchange rate, use Naira accounts opened in local banks ostensibly for legal business to pay out the proceeds to the beneficiaries while channeling the foreign currencies to fund the parallel market.
“This practice has led to non-reporting of such transactions to relevant authorities thereby undermining effective surveillance of the sector as well as leading to discrepancies in statistics on the transactions between countries of origin of remittance and the destination country, Nigeria.”
