Tax Crimes, Fraud Account for 51% of NFIU Financial Intelligence Reports

Tax offences and fraud together accounted for 51% of financial intelligence reports linked to the leading designated offences in Nigeria in 2025, according to data from the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

Investors King analysis of the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report shows tax crimes represented 30% of intelligence reports covering the top designated offences, while fraud accounted for another 21%.

The combined share means more than half of the intelligence in the category was associated with those two offences alone.

Money laundering followed with 15%, illegal drug trafficking accounted for 10%, while bribery and corruption and terrorism-related offences each represented 8%.

The figures provide a clearer picture of the underlying offences occupying Nigeria’s financial intelligence system rather than treating all suspicious financial activity simply as money laundering.

Fraud also appears prominently in the NFIU’s assessment of emerging financial crime risks.

The agency said it observed notable growth in Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding arrangements, cryptocurrency-enabled investment scams and hacking-related fraud during the year.

Digital platforms have allowed some schemes to recruit victims quickly and move funds through multiple financial channels, while weaknesses in customer identification can make tracing beneficiaries more difficult.

Tax crimes, meanwhile, remained the single largest designated offence represented in intelligence reports passed to domestic authorities.

The NFIU produced a total of 3,431 proactive and reactive domestic intelligence reports during 2025 to assist investigations involving assets, proceeds of crime and criminal networks.