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Tag: Cyber crimes

  • Nigeria loses $500m annually to cyber crimes, says Reps panel

    Nigeria loses $500m annually to cyber crimes, says Reps panel

    The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes, Hon Ginger Onwusibe, on Wednesday disclosed that Nigeria loses about $500 million annually to the activities of cyber criminals.

    Onwusibe, represented by the Clerk to the Committee, Austen Adesoro, made this assertion in his opening remarks during a national workshop on cyber and financial crimes organised by the committee in collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC), in Abuja.

    With a theme: “Cyber and Financial Crimes Control for Effective Economic Social and Security Growth of the Nation” participants drawn from the public and private sector, were also told that the EFCC has established a Cybercrime Centre, aimed at combating the criminal menace.

    The House panel chair praised the efforts of the anti-graft agency in establishing the centre which is geared towards combating cyber crimes, pointing out that the gesture will among others, safeguard Nigeria’s economic stability and protect individuals and businesses.

    He said the workshop would assist the participants in identifying internet crimes, create a secured and stable environment for businesses to operate and foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

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    He added that participants will also be availed with the knowledge on how to identify crimes associated with digital technologies among others.

    He emphasised the dangers of several internet assisted crimes (Cyber crimes) which are increasingly posing a threat to Nigerians, its institutions, people and the general economy.

    He cautioned that the menace must not be overlooked, given its impact on the reputation of the people and the dent and international odium it has brought on the country in the comity of nations

    “Cybercrime is a threat against various institutions and people who are connected to the internet, either through their computers or mobile technologies,” he said, adding that ‘the exponential increase of the crime in society has become a strong issue that should not be overlooked.

    The Committee chair warned of the dire consequences and impact of the crime on the lives, economy and reputation of a nation

    He acknowledged the benefits from the collaboration of both parliament and the anti-graft commission resulting in robust legislative frameworks in checkmating cyber and financial crimes, in addition to cooperation of both institutions in training participants from across the sectors that are in charge of public and private finances.

    He said the beneficiaries would in turn leverage prudent fiscal policies and effective financial management that will benefit the country.

    He disclosed that the House was also looking at legislative interventions to safeguard cryptocurrency transactions in the country with a governance and regulatory system in line with global best practices.

    The participants numbering over a hundred were drawn from both the public and private sectors of the economy.

  • 42 Chinese, Filipinos convicted of cyber crimes deported

    42 Chinese, Filipinos convicted of cyber crimes deported

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has commenced the deportation of 192 foreigners convicted of internet fraud and Ponzi Scheme offences.

    The first batch, comprising 42 Chinese and Filipinos, was flown out through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, around 2 pm yesterday.

    The rest(150) will follow suit between today and tomorrow.

    A  Federal High Court in Lagos jailed the 42 Chinese and Filipinos for one year each after they entered plea bargain pacts with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    They were fined  N1 million each by the court, which also directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to repatriate them to their countries of origin within seven days on completion of the jail term.

    In July, the anti-graft agency, which in December 2024 nabbed them and 600 Nigerians, in building on Victoria Island, Lagos, secured final forfeiture of $222,729  digital assets seized from some of them.  

    The foreigners were said to be using the building on Oyin Jolayemi to “train Nigerians on how to initiate romance and investment scams.”

     According to court documents,   the syndicate’s company, Genting International Co. Limited, received more than  N2.26 billion between April and December last year.

    A statement by the EFCC on the foreigners’ deportation reads: ‘’The Nigerian Immigration Service will today(yesterday),   deport 42 out of the 192 Chinese and Philippine nationals convicted for cyber terrorism and Ponzi scheme offences back to their home countries.

    ‘’The first batch of deportees, scheduled to leave Nigeria at exactly 2 pm. local time, were among 759 persons arrested during a major raid on December 10, 2024, at Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Read Also: Ghana deports 16 Nigerians for engaging in cyber crimes

    ‘’Other deportees will depart Nigeria on Monday(today) and Tuesday respectively and will be airlifted back to their countries.

    ‘’All the convicts were handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service for deportation.

    ‘’The syndicate had been operating a large-scale cyber fraud and Ponzi scheme before being rounded up in a joint operation.

    ‘’A total of 192 foreigners—comprising Chinese and Philippine nationals—were convicted in connection with the scam.”

    ‘’Several of the charges included allegations of using fake identities online to defraud victims, training employees of Genting International Co. Limited in fraudulent practices, and other offences under the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.’’

    The EFCC explained last year that the charges against the convicts highlighted serious crimes aimed at undermining Nigeria’s security and financial integrity through cybercrime and fraudulent activities.

    It said the foreigners selected their Nigerian accomplices based on their computer skills. The successful ones among them were made to undergo a 14-day training on impersonation strategies.

    “Once they established contact and built trust with victims, the foreign syndicate leaders would take over the scam and block their Nigerian collaborators from further access to the chats, keeping them in the dark about ongoing transactions,” he said.

    The Nigerians  ,  who were not issued employment letters,   were paid in cash or through third-party accounts.

  • CBN: framework’ll be strengthened to check cyber crimes

    With the global cost of cybercrime estimated at over $600 billion in 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it would strengthen its regulatory framework to check cybercrimes on Nigeria’s financial system.

    Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability of the CBN Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, made this disclosure during a cyber security conference in Abuja.

    She stated that “whilst a variety of organisations are exposed to cybercrime, the financial sector is particularly vulnerable given its crucial role of financial intermediation in a highly connected global financial system.”

    According to her, while technology is transforming the way financial transactions are being conducted,  she lamented that “the adoption of innovation such as robotics and artificial intelligence and block chains have potentials to disrupt the process.”

    This development, she said. has necessitated the need to further strengthen regulatory framework because of the “attractiveness of globalisation, interconnectivity and financial innovation are being undermined by incidences of cybercrimes.”

    She said the CBN was aware of these threats and has convened the conference to tackle these threats.

    She noted that these series of cybercrimes “have ushered in complex security challenges some of which range from identity and intellectual property theft, email spamming, virus dissemination, sophisticated hacking and theft by digital crime syndicate, all of which have led to a significant rise in cybercrimes.”

    “At the CBN, we are committed to strengthening the regulatory framework for cyber risk, we are encouraging our regulated institutions to build realistic vulnerability testing systems for contingency planning.” she said.

    According to her,  “a recent study by the IMF estimated global annual losses from cyber-attacks may be close to nine per cent of banks’ net income or around $100 billion, and in a severe scenario, where the frequency of attacks are twice as high as currently experienced and with greater contagion, losses could be as high as $350 billion.”

    Also speaking at the event, the Director, Information Technology Department, CBN, Mr John Ayoh said the CBN was putting up strong measures to improve data protection in the banking industry.

    He noted that steps have to be taken to ensure that the CBN is not attacked by cyber criminals and he acknowledged that an attack on the central bank will affect the stability of the financial system.

    According to him, “it will make CBN lose tremendous reputation in the market place. People will start to wonder whether or not they can depend on the CBN, he said.

  • EFCC detains over 100 undergraduates for cyber crimes

    EFCC detains over 100 undergraduates for cyber crimes

    NO fewer than 100 undergraduates of tertiary institutions across the Southwest have been detained for various cybercrimes by the Ibadan Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), it was learnt yesterday.

    Addressing reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital yesterday, the commission’s Deputy Zonal Head, Ibadan, Kazeem Oseni, who spoke on behalf of the Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu, said the suspects were arrested for mainly online love scam, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) fraud and online marketing scams.

    Oseni added that the Ibadan office had recovered around N277.9 million from fraudsters in the past nine months, adding that 50 cases had been instituted against the suspects with 381 others being investigated.

    ”The commission is attending to 431 cases among which 50 cases are already in court. In the past nine months, we have arrested 195 individuals in connection with bank fraud, internet fraud, land and general disputes. Among the cases in court are the ones involving the Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, that of the Federal University of Technology, Akure and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

    “The prevailing case in Ibadan is internet frauds involving young people. The Ibadan office has so far recovered N277, 931,341 from various financial criminals while we have also recovered objects like cars used by fraudsters to perpetrate crimes,” he said.

     

     

  • Cybercrimes: EFCC detains over 100 undergraduates in nine months

    Cybercrimes: EFCC detains over 100 undergraduates in nine months

    Over 100 undergraduates of tertiary institutions across Southwest have been detained for various cyber crimes by the Ibadan Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), it was learnt Month.

    While addressing reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital Monday, the commission’s Deputy Zonal Head, Ibadan, Kazeem Oseni, who spoke on behalf of the Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, also disclosed that the suspects were arrested for mainly online love scam, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) fraud and online marketing scams.

    Oseni also disclosed that that the Ibadan office had recovered around N277.9 million from fraudsters in the past nine months, adding that 50 cases had been instituted against the suspects with 381 others being investigated.

    “The commission is attending to 431 cases among which 50 cases are already in court. In the past nine months, we have arrested 195 individuals in connection with bank fraud, internet fraud, land and general disputes. Among the cases in court are the ones involving the Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, that of the Federal University of Technology, Akure and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

    “The prevailing case in Ibadan is internet frauds involving young people. The Ibadan office has so far recovered N277, 931,341m from various financial criminals while we have also recovered objects like cars used by fraudsters to perpetrate crimes.” He said.

    While shedding more light on the number of arrests made by the commission, the Head, Public Affairs of the zone, Mr Ayo Oyewole, told explained that undergraduates formed larger part of those in custody, adding that some hotels were also seized.

    “Many cars were recovered from undergraduates who were investigated or being investigated. They deal in fake online marketing, fraudulent online dating, ATM fraud and other forms of internet crimes. Over 100 of them have been arrested in the past nine months by the Ibadan office of the EFCC. We have also seized some hotels from fraudsters,” Oyewole said.

  • FG Panel raises alarm over loss of 90 billion naira to cyber crimes

    FG Panel raises alarm over loss of 90 billion naira to cyber crimes

    A Federal Government Panel on National Cyber Security has raised the alarm over persistent cyber security threats and internet hackings across the country, saying that the country has been losing 90 billion naira every year to cyber crimes since 2014.

    At its inauguaral meeting in Abuja, the panel which comprises of representatives from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Nigeria Postal Service, NIPOST, NigComSat, Nigeria Computer Society, and CS2 called for concerted efforts to arrest the situation.

    The panel also known as the inter-ministerial Technical Committee on the implementation of the National Cyber security Strategy insisted that pro-active measures should be taken to address the problem.

    A statement endorsed by the Head of Corporate Affairs of NITDA, Mrs Hadiza Umar noted that the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami urged the panel to urgently address the misuse and abuse of access to the tools of Information Technology,

    Pantami stated that, “these Information Technological tools that have become vital in our critical activities are also avenues adopted by individuals and groups to carry out a range of malicious activities” adding that these threats could be targeted at national critical infrastructures, government/private institutions or individuals.

    “Today, information assets are very valuable and various sectors of the Nigerian government have come to rely on technological tools to carry out their processes both critical and non-critical. Financial services, Telecommunications, Navigation systems, Manufacturing Sector, Oil and Gas, Power and Energy, Food and Agriculture, Emergency Services, Public Healthcare, Water and Waste Management Systems amongst others now strongly rely on digital systems networks”, he said.

    The NITDA boss further disclosed that research findings indicate that “out of about 97 million internet users in Nigeria, 14% suffer cyber-attacks. In 2013, global payment giant, paypal.com disclosed that Nigerians lost about 159 billion naira to cyber security threats and more worrisome is the fact that since 2014, the country has been losing approximately 90 billion naira to cybercrime and in December 2015.”

    ” Nigeria was the 17th most attached nation in the world based on threat intelligence drawn from Check Point Software Technologies. Office of the National Security adviser (ONSA) recently disclosed that of the 2,175 Nigerian websites hacked in 2015, 585 were government owned”, he added.

    The scale and dimension of these threats according to Dr Pantami has compelled the Agency to develop and implement a new cyber security strategy for the Federal Civil and Public Service Sector with the approval of the Minister of Communications.

    He called for continuous collaborative efforts as information security is not a one – off programme, as according to him the threat landscape keeps changing.

  • ‘Nigeria loses N78b yearly to cyber crimes’

    ‘Nigeria loses N78b yearly to cyber crimes’

    Nigeria loses about N78 billion yearly to cyber crimes, the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has said.

    He said financial institutions, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as their affiliates have become targets for people who engage in cyber crimes.

    The Minister, who spoke in Abuja yesterday at the opening of a five –day capacity enhancement and sustainability workshop for Africa Centres for Excellence organised by the National Universities Commission (NUC), said his ministry has submitted recommendations to the government on how to tackle cyber crimes.

    “It is also note worthy to mention here that Nigeria currently loses about 78 billion yearly to activities of cyber criminals whose major targets are the financial institutions, and the MDAs, as well as their affiliates,” he said.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari, through his 2016 Budget, was planning to lay the foundation for sustainable growth of the education sector by improving upon the quality of education in Nigerian universities.

    “In line with the government’s decision to build upon existing infrastructure, President Buhari is planning to lay the foundation for sustainable growth of the education sector and to improve upon the quality of education in Nigerian Universities.

    “This is evident from the percentage that has been earmarked for education in the 2016 budget of change. This percentage for education in the 2016 budget proposal reveals the administration’s commitment to the improvement of the standard of education.”

    In his address, Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said the 10 Africa Centers of Excellences have boosted the image of Nigeria’s higher education.

    The minister assured the gathering that the government would work to sustain the project in the country.

    He said: “These 10 Africa Centres of Excellences in the country have boosted the image of Nigeria’s higher education and they are making our universities look and sound even more competitive.

    “The Federal Government will continue to provide a conducive environment and a level playing ground for all Nigerian universities to develop since all our universities are producing graduates for the same labour market.”

    The ACE is a regional higher education project for West and Central Africa with support from the World Bank. The project will end in 2018.

  • Nigeria loses N78bn yearly to cyber crimes – Minister

    Nigeria loses about N78 billion yearly to cyber crimes, the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has said.

    Shittu said financial institutions, government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as their affiliates have become targets for people who engage in cyber crimes.

    The minister spoke in Abuja on Monday at the opening ceremony of a five –day capacity enhancement and sustainability workshop for Africa centres for excellence organized by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

    Shittu said his ministry had submitted recommendations to the government on how to tackle cyber crimes.

    “It is also note worthy to mention here that Nigeria currently loses about 78 billion yearly to activities of cyber criminals whose major targets are the financial institutions, and the government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as their affiliates,” he said.

    Shittu said that President Muhammadu Buhari is planning to lay the foundation for sustainable growth of the education sector by improving upon the quality of education in Nigerian universities.

    He said: “In line with the present government’s decision to build upon existing infrastructure, President Buhari is planning to lay the foundation for sustainable growth of the education sector and to improve upon the quality of education in Nigerian Universities.

    “This is evident from the percentage that has been earmarked for education in the 2016 budget of change. This percentage for education in the 2016 budget proposal reveals the administration’s commitment to the improvement of the standard of education.”

    In his address, Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said that the 10 Africa Centers of Excellences have boosted the image of Nigeria’s higher education.