Syndicate held 42 victims hostage promising fake jobs – NSCDC

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has rescued 42 young men and women who were held hostage in Calabar after being lured with promises of non-existent jobs in countries like South Africa, Malaysia, and Ivory Coast.

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Once the money is paid, the foreign job narrative is instantly abandoned. The victims are then held, heavily indoctrinated, and forced into an illegal pyramid scheme.

The victims, ranging in age from 22 to 36, were discovered during a coordinated raid on a secret five-bedroom facility used as an "indoctrination and holding camp" by a transnational fraud syndicate. The NSCDC Cross River State Command revealed that the syndicate operated under the guise of a multi-level networking company, charging desperate job seekers millions of naira for "international document and visa processing."

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They are coerced to recruit at least two additional victims to have any hope of recovering their stolen funds.

Once payments were made, the foreign job narrative was abandoned, and victims were subjected to heavy indoctrination and forced participation in an illegal pyramid scheme. They were coerced into recruiting at least two additional victims to have any hope of recovering their money. Many victims were told they would be selling jewelry, but none had seen any physical products, indicating the operation was a phantom enterprise built on digital representations.

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The victims were told they would be selling jewellery, but not a single person interviewed had seen any physical product. It is all a phantom enterprise built on visual representations on websites and mobile phones.

During the raid on August 14 and 15, 2026, the NSCDC arrested the syndicate's prime cell leader, Timothy Bayi, who allegedly has links to a logistics company in Lagos. The investigation is ongoing to verify these connections. Among the 42 individuals held were eight foreign nationals without valid travel documents: five from Cameroon and three from Benin. The NSCDC is collaborating with the Nigeria Immigration Service to process these individuals. Commandant Okarazu Chima warned parents and job seekers against get-rich-quick schemes demanding exorbitant fees for foreign employment.

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I attended an interview online and was informed that I was successful in June this year. My relatives helped me raise over one million which I gave to the firm only to end up in a room in a secretive five bedroom facility in Calabar