US and Nigeria has strengthened cooperation against sextortion, romance scams and cybercrime.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the United States and Nigeria have intensified efforts to tackle sextortion, romance scams and other transnational cybercrimes through stronger intelligence sharing, joint investigations and prosecution of offenders.
The renewed commitment followed a visit to Abuja by the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Michael Gonzales, who met with senior officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Office of the National Security Adviser, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Nigeria Police Force.
In a statement issued by the US Embassy in Abuja on Monday, the embassy said the discussions coincided with Nigeria’s Cybercrime Awareness Week and focused on expanding joint operations against financially motivated sextortion, romance scams and other cyber-enabled offences.
Gonzales stressed the importance of international cooperation in responding to cybercriminals who operate across national borders.
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“Recent extraditions demonstrates that criminals could not rely on international boundaries to evade justice when both countries combine their investigative, diplomatic and law enforcement capabilities,” he said.
The statement disclosed that Nigeria extradited two alleged cybercriminals to the United States in August. The suspects face charges in separate financially motivated sextortion cases involving American minors who died by suicide.
It added that the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Legal Attaché Office at the US Embassy in Abuja had worked with the EFCC on 41 extraditions since 2022, including five completed in 2026.
The figure represents an increase compared with the period between 2012 and 2021, when the two countries recorded four arrests and five extraditions, according to the statement.
Gonzales commended the EFCC, the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation for their support in investigations and extradition proceedings involving suspects wanted in the United States.
He also underscored the need for swift and visible law enforcement action to hold offenders accountable and deter others from targeting victims.
Highlighting the impact of financially motivated sextortion on young people and their families, the embassy said the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 50,000 reports of the crime in 2025.
The figure represents approximately 137 reports daily, according to the statement.
The FBI identifies Nigeria and other parts of West Africa, alongside Southeast Asia, as locations where some of the most prevalent sextortion networks have operated.
Through Operation Artemis and related initiatives, the FBI works with Nigerian authorities to identify and disrupt networks targeting Americans.
The cooperation also covers romance scams, in which fraudsters exploit victims’ trust and emotional relationships to steal their savings and retirement funds.
In a related development, the Nigeria Police Force’s National Cybercrime Centre launched a nationwide online safety and cyber-hygiene campaign in March to educate the public about romance scams, sextortion, phishing, identity theft and business email compromise.
The campaign is part of broader efforts to improve public awareness and help individuals identify and report online threats.
During his meeting with the EFCC, Gonzales described the commission as one of Africa’s recognised economic crime enforcement agencies, citing its high-profile prosecutions, asset recovery efforts and public engagement.
He also identified the EFCC’s partnership with the FBI as an example of international law enforcement cooperation, noting that it had involved intelligence sharing, suspect identification, arrests and complex extradition proceedings.
Some of the cases, the statement said, required years of joint investigative work.
Gonzales, however, called for the process to become faster, more routine and proactive, with greater emphasis on dismantling criminal networks rather than pursuing individual suspects alone.
The embassy said both countries intended to expand efforts to target the financial infrastructure and facilitators behind cybercrime networks before more victims were harmed.
The next phase of cooperation is expected to prioritise stronger information sharing between US and Nigerian agencies, faster conversion of cyber and financial intelligence into investigations, wider public awareness of sextortion and romance scams, and improvements in Nigeria’s investigative, prosecutorial and cybercrime-reporting capabilities.
US authorities also stressed that the partnership would be assessed by tangible outcomes rather than the number of programmes funded.
These outcomes include protecting victims, disrupting criminal networks, advancing investigations, securing convictions and strengthening Nigerian institutions.
The statement said the ultimate objective was to build sustainable law enforcement capacity that would protect the interests of Nigerians and Americans.
