The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fraud

  • 10 bankers declared wanted for alleged N125m fraud

    The Police yesterday declared wanted 10 bankers over an alleged N125.1 million fraud scam.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the names and photographs of the suspects have been pasted on the notice board of the zone 2 Police Command in Onikan, Lagos.

    The command’s spokesman, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Gbenga Adeoye, told NAN in Lagos, that it was normal for the police to declare wanted anybody suspected of crime.

    “It is normal for the police to declare wanted anybody who refused to make himself available after committing crimes such as fraud, jump bail or murder.

    “When we declare anybody wanted, the photograph, names and contact address of the suspected fellow will be pasted in the police formation for easy identification of his or her arrest,” Adeoye said.

    The suspects who are at large, were being investigated over alleged forgery and obtaining money by false pretence, he said.

    A warrant of arrest has been duly obtained from a Magistrate’s Court in Lagos State against the suspected fraudsters.

    NAN gathered that the suspects conspired with others to obtain financial facilities of N15, 055, 541; N10, 894, 478 and N24, 597, 628.

    Other amounts are N9,983,195; N11,114,992; N12,231,958; N8,663,833; N10,827,561; N5,657,937 and N15,054,383, respectively, from a Bank.

    The suspects are between the ages of 34 and 48.

  • How to avoid electronic fraud, by experts

    A professional group with focus on the security of electronic payment or  e-payment, the e-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria  (e-PPAN) has advised Nigerians to be wary as the frontiers of e-payment expands in line with the cashless policy of the  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Its Media and  Strategy Development Manager, Mrs Ntia Nnene Sylvia, who  spoke during an enlightenment forum about e-fraud in Lagos, said if users of e-payment platforms follow the group’s expert advice, they are not likely to fall prey to  fraudsters.

    One of the first steps is for people to be careful when they use their cards  during shopping at merchant outlets using the Point of Sale (PoS) terminal or use mobile banking/payment; online  transactions or even at the automated teller machine (ATM) point

    She said: “Typically, fraudsters also use this festive season to  launch their nefarious activities to unsuspecting bank  customers. The onus is therefore on the individual first, to consider safety in all transactions, and this will take  some extra and conscious effort by the individual.

    “It is very safe to use any of the payment instruments but to minimise the  chances of becoming a victim of electronic fraud, we advice  consumers to follow some safety tips such as; looking after  your cards and card details at all times; trying not to let your card out of your sight when making a transaction; not leaving your cards unattended to in public places. We  emphasise that card users should never share their personal  identification number (PIN) with anyone and ensure you are the only person that knows your PIN. Your bank will never  ask you to disclose it; anyone who ask you for your PIN is a  fraudster. keep it secret, keep it safe – protect your  PIN.

    For those who will  use the ATM at any point we always advice that never use an  ATM at any isolated location especially at night and  weekends. ATM’s are generally very safe; however they do  sometimes attract criminal attention so you still need to  follow common sense precautions when withdrawing cash. At  the ATM when entering your PIN, Stand close to the ATM , use  your free hand and your body to shield the number in case someone is watching you over your shoulder. “Once you have  completed a transaction put your money and card away before  leaving the ATM.  If the ATM does not  return your card, report it immediately to your service  provider. Destroy or preferably shred your ATM receipts,mini-statements or balance enquiries when you dispose of  them.

  • Barca accused of tax fraud in Neymar Signing

    Barca accused of tax fraud in Neymar Signing

    The prosecutors believe that Neymar cost in excess of the 57 million euros ($64.3 million, £42.7 million) declared to the Spanish tax man.

    Spanish public prosecutors have asked for Barcelona and their former president Sandro Rosell to be tried for two charges of tax fraud committed in the signing of Brazilian star Neymar.

    Meanwhile, prosecutors have also asked for the investigation of current Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the club on an extra tax charge in 2014, which could rise to 2.85 million euros.

    In a judicial file released on Monday, prosecutor Jose Perals Calleja suggests that Rosell and Barca declared an inferior fee to that which they paid for Neymar in 2013.

    The prosecutors believe that Neymar cost in excess of the 57 million euros ($64.3 million, £42.7 million) declared to the Spanish tax man.

    They cite the figure at a cost of 82,743,485 euros divided into sperate contracts that secured the signing.

    According to the calculations of the Spanish tax authorities, Barcelona owe a total of 12,148,696 million euros in tax on the deal, which would see the overall cost of the operation rise to 94.8 million euros.

    Rosell resigned as president over the affair just over a year ago when a complaint brought by one of the club’s members for misappropriation of funds was taken to court.

    In his testimony before a judge on the case in July of 2004, Rosell insisted that Neymar cost the club 57 million euros, 17 of which went to his former club Santos and 40 million paid to N&N, a company owned by the player’s father.

    However, following Rosell’s resignation, Barcelona also confirmed a number of extra agreements including a 10 million euro signing bonus for the player and scouting and collaborative agreements between the two clubs taking the total to 86.2 million euros.

    In February of last year, the club announced that they had made a voluntary payment of 13.5 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities regarding the transfer.

  • Card reader ‘ll eliminate fraud, says Ekiti Rec

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Sam Olumekun, has identified the use of smart card reader as an antidote to  malpractices afflicting the nation’s electoral system.

    Olumekun spoke on the readiness of the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a free, fair and credible general elections next month.

    Addressing  reporters in Ado-Ekiti, he also debunked rumour making the rounds that the general elections will be postponed. He said:  “We are not contemplating changing the date of election”.

    He explained that, although the 2011 polls were widely acknowledged to be credible, some flaws noticed in the elections made INEC to go back to the drawing board to fashion out a strategy to curtail malpractices in future elections.

    Olumekun said this necessitated the resolve of the commission to use smart card readers for the 2015 general elections.

    The INEC chief said the device would electronically confirm prospective voters during accreditation and record them centrally which would prevent over-voting and other malpractices.

    Olumekun said: “The era of electoral malpractices are gone for good and those that will be elected  will be truly the choice of the electorate and we are going to deliver free, fair and credible elections.

    “INEC went back to the drawing board after some flaws were noticed during the 2011 elections and we decided to raise the technological content of the electoral process.

  • Man, 37, faces N18m fraud charge

    Man, 37, faces N18m fraud charge

    Usman Balumi, a 37-year-old man, on Tuesday appeared before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos for allegedly obtained N18 million on the pretext of supplying petroleum products to a company.

    Balumi, who resides at No. 21, Ilasan New Road, Ilasan in Lagos State, is standing trial on a two-count charge of fraud and stealing.

    The prosecutor, Cpl. Innocent Odugbu, told the court that the accused committed the offences on May 19 at 10.00 a.m. at No. 7b, Gaboro Close, off Amodu Ojikutu St., Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Odugbo said the accused obtained N18 million from one Emeka Okoli, on the pretext of supplying him petroleum products.

    According to him, the product was deemed to have been sold to the Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc.

    The offences, he said, contravened Sections 285 (5) and 312 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 312 provides 15 years’ imprisonment for false pretences.

    The Magistrate, Mrs. F. M. Dalley, admitted the accused to a bail of N200, 000 in addition to two sureties in like sum.

    She said the sureties, who should be gainfully employed, must show evidence of tax payment to the state government as part of the bail conditions.

    The case was adjourned to February 3, 2015 for mention.

  • Alleged N28m fraud: Court orders estate agent’s arrest

    Alleged N28m fraud: Court orders estate agent’s arrest

    Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye the Ikeja High Court in Lagos has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of an estate agent, Ishola Salawudeen, over an alleged N28million fraud.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is accusing Salawudeen  of  defrauding 120 prospective tenants of about N28 million.

    Justice Ipaye issued the warrant following Salawudeen’s failure to appear in court for his arraignment.

    The defendant’s  alleged accomplice, Babatunde Habeeb, was, however, in court. His absence prompted  the judge to order his arrest.

    Ipaye ordered the police to arrest and produce Salawudeen before the court on the next adjourned date of January 15,2015 for the arraignment of the defendants.

    The EFCC counsel, Mr Ben Ubi, had alleged that the defendants  collected various sums of money from  accommodation seekers between May and December 2013 in Lagos.

    Ubi said the obtained the money from the complainants under the pretense of securing accommodation for them at No.59, Oriola St., Alapere, Ketu, a Lagos suburb.

    He listed those swindled by the defendants to include Vincent Anthony, Adebunmi Damola, Rilwan Lawal and Azeez Ogundiran, among others.

    Ubi said their offences contravened Sections 1(1) and 8 (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006.

    The first defendant  is also facing a similar charge before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo of an Ikeja High Court where he is facing trial for allegedly defrauding Mr Attah Ocholi of N320,000 under the pretext of helping him secure a two-bedroom apartment.

     

     

  • N5bn fraud: ‘How I was defrauded’

    ALagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has heard  how a former accountant with Cheveron Nigeria Limited converted a jointly owned N5billion landed property to personal use.

    A witness, Mr. S.K Oyeniran, who is into real estate told Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya that  he and other investors in his group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adenuga’s group to jointly buy the land.

    Oyeniran was being cross examined by the counsel to the second defendant, Dr. Muiz Banire during a N5 billion property theft charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The witness said  each of the partners was expected to contribute 50 per cent of the cost of the land.

    He explained that under this arrangement, investors under his group would own 50 per cent of the property while Adenuga would own the remaining 50 per cent.

    Oyeniran told the court that his group raised its share of N380 million while Adenuga’s group only raised N250 million, adding that his group had to raise additional N150 million to make up for the shortfall.

    He said this made the contribution of his group to add up to N530 million far above the 50 per cent initially required of his group.

    He said he was surprised when he  discovered later that Adenuga had allegedly converted the said property to personal use despite the fact that his group had a higher financial  commitment in the transaction.

    The witness alledged that the defendant, Adenuga, did not just  convert title of the property to his personal one, but also  used the documents of the property to obtain a personal loan.

    The trial judge, Justice Ogunsanya adjourned till February 17.

  • Fraud, forgery hit N20b, says KPMG report

    The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) report for the first  half of last year has shown that there were 2,478 fraud and forgery cases involving banks valued at over N20 billion, a report by KPMG has said.

    This, it said, represented an eight per cent increase over the previous year volume but a significant increase in value of over 200 per cent from 2012.

    The Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey by KPMG obtained by The Nation said increasing frequency and magnitude of cybercrime incidents globally make it apparent that cybercrime is here to stay.

    It said with a yearly growth rate of three per cent over the past five years and $21 billion inflow of personal remittances last year, Nigeria is the fifth largest remittance receiver worldwide in terms of volume.

    It said remittance to Nigeria accounts for 65.6 per cent of total flows into sub-Saharan Africa.

    The feat, it said, presents some opportunity for banks who may want to tap into the opportunities created by this class of Nigerians who wish to transact banking business using their local bank accounts.

    In an online survey of 127 Nigerians resident across 12 countries who maintain local banking relationships, convenience was the overwhelming driver of value.

    According to the report, when asked for the most important factor in their banking relationships, 44 per cent of the customers selected the availability of internet banking. In particular, customers identified the ease of use of the internet banking platform as the most important factor followed closely by the quality of customer service.

    Interestingly, 77 per cent of those surveyed transfer money through formal channels – banks (48 per cent) or through other money transfer agencies (29 per cent) – compared to 19 per cent who said they typically send money home through less formal ways.

    Also, on the effectiveness of the contact centre, the ease of complaints resolution was cited as a major area of dissatisfaction.

    It said more than 50 per cent of customers who have used their bank’s contact centre have been dissatisfied with the promptness of issues resolution and quality of feedback. It cited one bank’s  response to a customer facing some debit card challenges was for the customer to wait until his next visit home, for his query to be resolved.

    In this year’s survey, two per cent of retail customers indicated that they had experienced a fraud incident in the last year and while this number appears small today, it may signify the start of a potentially disturbing future trend.

    It said a survey by KPMG in the Netherlands showed 80 per cent of the respondents indicated that cybercrime is no hype and will continue to be a challenging topic.

    The survey showed that 49 per cent of organisations have experienced some form of cybercrime activity during the past 12 months, stressing that it is not to say the rest have not experienced an attack; they may not have the proper detection measures in place.

    Among the 49 per cent that have experienced an attack, 10 per cent indicated that they have been attacked more than 100 times within the past year. Inadequate detection procedures may conceal the real number of cybercrime attacks. Only 50 per cent of the respondents were able to detect attacks and only 44 per cent of the organisations felt comfortable that they were able to respond.

    It said organisations should ask themselves whether they are aware and capable of handling a cybercrime attack. The survey found that 35 per cent do not agree that their organisation is sufficiently aware of cybercrime, although the financial sector respondents score significantly lower. This would imply that financial institutions are more aware of cybercrime than other typologies.

    Attacks may come by various methods heavily on and correlate with the budgets that have been made available. The damage from cybercrime attacks and budgets allocated to cybercrime defence can be substantial.It said the way  cybercrime defence budgets are allocated for prevention, detection and response measures should be considered carefully.

  • SEC to impose more penalties in municipal fraud cases

    The United States’ (US) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to impose penalties more frequently in the $3.7 trillion municipal securities market.

    “An enforcement model with no penalties was not sustainable,” Andrew Ceresney, the SEC’s director of enforcement, said during a panel discussion at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s conference in New York. “The most effective deterrent is individual liability, so we need to be focused on that.”

    Ceresney’s comments come as the SEC has been stepping up enforcement efforts against state and local governments that defraud investors by making false or misleading statements in bond documents. Recent settlements have included penalties against individuals and municipal borrowers.

    The former mayor of Allen Park, Michigan, agreed last week to pay $10,000 to settle an SEC claim that he oversaw fraudulent bond issues for a movie studio project that was supposed to revitalise the city. Last year, the SEC fined a public agency in Washington $20,000 for misleading investors about the feasibility of an ice-hockey arena, the first such fine against a municipal borrower.

    Bloomberg reported that SEC has also extended an offer of leniency to underwriters and local governments that voluntarily report cases in which misleading disclosures were made to investors

  • Stock Exchange expels brokers for shares fraud

    The council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has revoked the dealing licence and expelled some stockbroking firms for fraudulent sales of shares of their clients.

    The firms allegedly sold the shares of their clients without authorisation, a reference to common shares fraud where stockbrokers sell clients’ shares to take advantage of market prices or buoy their liquidity.

    In a circular issued to all stockbroking firms last week, which was obtained by The Nation, the NSE indicated that two stockbroking firms were delisted from the membership list at the stock market and their directors and employees  embargoed from working in any other stockbroking firm without the approval of the Exchange.

    According to the notice, the two firms- Lakesworth Investment & Securities Limited and Gosord Securities Limited, were investigated and indicted for unauthorised sales of investors’ shares.

    The multiple fraudulent transactions were in breach of the Article 59, section five of the Rules and Regulations Governing Dealing Members of the Exchange, the charter-like code and mode of operations that regulate stockbrokers at the Exchange.

    With the revocation of their licences and expulsion from the market, no dealing members must engage in any type of activity with the firms. Besides, Article 144, subsection C makes it mandatory for any stockbroking firm that may want to employ any of the former employees, directors and executives of the expelled firms to seek clearance from the Exchange.

    According to the provision under the “Specific Actions Requiring Prior Consent of the Exchange,” a dealing member shall not be allowed to do any of the following without the prior written consent of the Exchange including employing any of the directors, authorised clerks or other persons including principal officers such as the chief executive officer, chief finance officer, chief compliance officer and chief risk officer, who have been indicted by the Exchange or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    Others that required clearance from the Exchange before employment included any person expelled, as an authorised clerk or its equivalent, from any other exchange; any person refused admission as a member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers or any person expelled from its membership; any person expelled as a member of any professional association or institute and any person who is insolvent or has been convicted of theft, fraud, forgery, or any other crime involving dishonesty.

    A source told The Nation that the Exchange has been working to address the root causes of frauds among stockbroking firms. The source said inactive and illiquid stockbroking firms are prone to frauds, referring to a recent move by the Exchange to amend its rules to pave way for delisting of inactive stockbroking firms.

    The draft amendment to the rules and regulations governing dealing member is titled ‘revocation of inactive dealing member firms’ licences and it has already passed the initial rule-making processes.

    The Nation’s check indicated that the NSE has marked 81 out of the 322 stockbroking firms on its dealing members’ list as inactive. According to the amendment, where a dealing member is inactive for a period of six consecutive months, the Exchange shall revoke the licence of the dealing member. A dealing member must not under  no circumstances cease to carry out  its day to day business activities for, which it was licensed to operate without any reasonable cause.