What to do in the first 24 hours after being scammed in Nigeria

If you have just been scammed in Nigeria, breathe. You are not the first and you will not be the last. The next 24 hours determine whether you have any chance of recovery and whether you walk into a second scam. Follow this playbook, in this order.

Hour 1: Stop the bleeding

Call your bank's fraud line immediately

Every Nigerian commercial bank has a 24 hour fraud line. Get the number from the back of your debit card or the bank's official app. Call, not visit. Report the transaction, ask for an immediate recall request, and get the case reference number in writing (email or SMS).

If you used a fintech (Opay, Kuda, PalmPay, Moniepoint), use their in app fraud reporting and call their support line. Speed matters because Nigerian transfers usually settle in minutes; the earlier you call, the higher the chance the receiving bank can freeze the funds.

Change your passwords and PINs

If the scam involved any login, OTP, or app installation, change every related password and PIN. Bank app, email, WhatsApp, Instagram. Enable two factor authentication everywhere.

Lock your debit card

In the bank app, "block card" or "lock card." You can unblock later. If you cannot, call to block.

Hour 2 to 6: Preserve evidence

You need to document everything before accounts get deleted or chats get cleared.

• Screenshot every chat (WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, in app messenger). Include timestamps.
• Screenshot the seller's profile, posts, bio, and any reviews.
• Save the bank transfer reference, exact time, exact amount, account name and number you sent to.
• If they emailed you, save the full email with headers.
• Note any phone numbers, even if they now go to voicemail.

Save all of this to a folder on your phone and email a copy to yourself. Now if the originals disappear, you still have proof.

Hour 6 to 24: File the reports

Report to the EFCC

Use the EFCC online complaint portal or visit a Lagos, Abuja or regional office. Submit your evidence pack and your bank case reference. Get the EFCC case number in writing.

Report to your local police

For physical handovers, fake delivery scams, or anything involving meeting in person, file a report at the nearest police station. Get a written extract. This is required for most recovery processes.

Report to FCCPC for consumer scams

If a registered business scammed you (Instagram vendor with a CAC name, a website with a registered company), file with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

Report to Nigeria CERT

For anything involving phishing, malware, remote access apps, or account takeover, file with Nigeria CERT (cert.gov.ng) so it is added to the national threat database.

Report on the platform

If the scam happened on Instagram, Jiji, WhatsApp, Telegram or any platform, report the user/listing inside the platform. Many platforms have fraud response teams that can freeze accounts.

What NOT to do, ever

Do not pay a "recovery agent"

The single most important rule. Within 24 hours of being scammed, you will be approached on Twitter, Telegram, or by a "friend of a friend" claiming they can recover your funds for a fee. Every single one of these is a second scam targeting people made vulnerable by the first one.

The EFCC does not charge fees for recovery. Real lawyers do not work on speculative recovery for retail scam amounts. Anyone promising to recover your money for an upfront fee is lying.

Do not transfer more "to verify"

A common second wave: someone calls claiming to be from your bank's fraud team, says they need you to transfer to a "verification account" to confirm your identity. Banks do not do this. Hang up.

Do not share your story with strangers in DMs

After you post about the scam on Twitter or Nairaland, your DMs will fill with "I was also scammed, I know an agent." Block all of them. The real EFCC will respond via your case reference, not via DM.

What to do tomorrow

• Tell your immediate network. Naming the scammer helps reduce victim count.
• Post the scammer's account and account number publicly (be careful to factually describe what happened, do not make defamatory claims beyond the facts you can prove).
• Process the emotional weight. Being scammed is shameful for many Nigerians; it should not be. The system has gaps that everyone falls through eventually. Talk to people.
• Adopt escrow for every future transaction with strangers. The fee on your next deal is a fraction of what you just lost.

The long game

Recovery is hard. Be honest with yourself: most scam losses in Nigeria are not recovered. What you can do is make sure it does not happen again, and that the scammer is documented enough that the next victim has a head start. Every report adds to the pattern that eventually catches them.