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The Central Bank of Nigeria has, once again, warned Nigerians in the diaspora to avoid patronizing unlicenced International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) while making remittances. The CBN said the warning became necessary given the fact that Nigerians who patronise IMTOs that operate illegally stand the risk of losing their money.

“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,” the apex bank said.

“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,” the CBN added.

The CBN directed all banks to ensure a “painstaking conduct” of the “Know Your Customers’ Business” protocol in order to prevent illegal transactions and avoid regulatory sanctions. The apex bank said banks should block all such accounts when discovered and operators handed over to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for prosecution. A list of all the 35 licenced IMTOs can be found on the CBN’s website.

The CBN's initial warning came after WorldRemit, a global online remittance service provider, had accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of imposing “draconian” rules, which the remittance service provider alleged were stifling the operations of IMTOs in Nigeria except Western Union, MoneyGram, and Ria.