Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has issued a stern warning to Point of Sale (POS) operators across the country, urging them to stop enabling fraudsters, money launderers and those involved in terrorist financing.
Executive Chairman Ola Olukoyede delivered the message on 16 September 2026 during a courtesy visit to EFCC headquarters by a delegation from the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), led by National President Oti Obioha.
Speaking through his Chief of Staff, Commander Michael Nzekwe, Olukoyede said POS machines have become a common channel for illicit activity, including money laundering, terrorist financing and ransom payments. He criticised AMMBAN for lacking the structures needed to prevent this abuse.
“We have realised that the issues of money laundering, terrorist financing and even ransom payments are made mostly from POS machines,” Nzekwe said on the chairman’s behalf. “Your association needs to do more by coming up with a structure and a comprehensive framework that will have records of all your operators so that during investigations we will be able to trace, monitor and have records that can aid us.”
He questioned the association’s impact on its members, asking whether it trains operators or even keeps basic records of their addresses. Some POS operators themselves are fraudsters who aid, conspire with and pass information to criminals, he added. When investigators later trace funds through a POS machine, operators often cannot identify who sent or withdrew the money because they keep no transaction records.
Olukoyede called on AMMBAN to require members to maintain proper financial records of every transaction and to compile a nationwide register of operators. The EFCC, he said, is ready to partner with the association on training, awareness campaigns and information sharing.Obioha welcomed the opportunity for closer co-operation. He noted that AMMBAN members operate at grassroots level and frequently encounter EFCC invitations, making partnership essential.
“We deem it fit to present ourselves to help and work with the EFCC in preventing money laundering and other kinds of fraud,” he said. “Most of our agents don’t know the rules of our operations. We need to partner in creating awareness on financial thresholds and the risks involved.”
The meeting ended with both sides expressing willingness to work together to reduce fraud in the POS sector
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