The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Internet fraudsters

  • NCC to fight cyber crooks, internet fraudsters

    THE Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday in Abakaliki said it was stepping up its fight against cyber crimes and internet fraudsters in the country.

    Its Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), Mrs. Felicia Onwuegbuchulam,  who spoke in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital during 105th edition of consumer outreach programme of the Commission, expressed worry that the activities of these criminals were on the increase in the country with dire consequences on the populace.

    The outreach themee was: Mitigating Effects of Cybercrimes: The  Role of Telecom Consumers.

    According to her, many people have lost their lives, monies, personal identity and privacies to cyber criminals which has made the Commission to adopt measures to curtail their activities.

    Mrs Onwuegbuchulam said the Commission was partnering with security agents, National Security Adviser and other relevant stakeholders to tackle the menace.

    She said: “Cyber crime gives big concern to the commission; people lose their money, people lose their personal identity; people lose their privacies and in the process, they are either duped or even harmed or killed.

    “The war against cyber crime may not have been won but we are doing everything humanly possible to stem the tide, it is an ongoing thing. As they are coming up, you are dressing them and new ones are coming up.

     

  • Four suspected fraudsters charged to court

    The Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday brought four suspected Internet fraudsters before Justice P.I. Ajoku of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, Oyo State.

    The suspects – Adebimpe Babajide Quadri, Olajide Timileyin, Olubayo Oluwaseyi and Afolabi Wasiu- were separately arraigned on their respective charges.

    Adebimpe was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on intent to defraud and obtaining by false pretence, while Olajide’s three-count charge borders on intent to defraud, obtaining by false pretence and possession of fake documents.

    Read also: Buhari ‘ll bridge gap between rich and poor, says Olokesusi

    Olubayo (aka Rachel Micah) and Afolabi were arraigned on seven-count and eight-count charge.

    The charge against Olubayo reads: “That you Olubayo Oluwaseyi (aka Rachel Micah), on or about January 21, 2019, in Ibadan, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, knowingly sent pornographic and indecent pictures with your email (rachelerick20@gmail.com) through a computer system and network to Erick C. Berge and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 24 (1) (a) and punishable under Section 24 (1) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015.”

    For Afolabi, the next adjourned date is March 20.

  • EFCC parades 13 suspected Internet fraudsters

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the weekend in Enugu paraded 13 suspected Internet fraudsters popularly called ‘yahoo yahoo boys’.

    The Southeast Zonal Head of the commission, Mr. Usma Iman, said the suspects were arrested following intelligence between January 17 and 31 in Anambra and Enugu states.

    He said the arrests were as a result of the commission’s avowed and renewed commitment to stamp out cyber-crime in the country.

    Iman said officers of the commission on January 17 raided the homes of suspected cyber criminals in Awka and arrested three suspects.

    The zonal head said that similar exercise was carried out in Enugu on January 30 and  31 during which six and four suspects were arrested.

    “We are convinced after our investigations that the suspects have cases to answer. They shall be arraigned next week,” he said.

    Imam said the image of the country had been battered due to activities of cyber criminals.

    “Nigerians are now treated as criminals by other countries due to activities of few individuals in our midst. The EFCC is determined to stamp it out,” he said.

    He said incriminating items were recovered from the suspects.

    “At the beginning of investigations the suspects denied committing the crime, but when we started analysing their phones and laptops, we established the offences.

    “We extracted mails and WhatsApp chats with their victims,” Imam said.

    One of the suspects, Obi Anikwe, denied being a cyber fraudster.

    Anikwe, a graduate, said he was arrested in Awka by officers of the commission.

    “We were sleeping in our room when someone told us that officers from the EFCC were in our compound. They searched my room and carried us to this place,” he said.

    Anikwe, who claimed to be a professional photographer, said his laptop, phone and camera were seized.

  • EFCC arrests 6 suspected internet fraudsters

    Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested six suspected internet fraudsters in separate raids carried out in Abuja.

    Acting Head Media and Publicity of the Commission, Mr Tony Orilade, listed the suspects as Chemezie Ezeife, Onwochei John, Onwochei Joel, Marvin Nwankwo, Prince Ojenike, and Jude Olatekobowale.

    He said they were arrested following a tip-off.

    In statement in Abuja, yesterday, Orilade said that Ezeife was arrested on Jan.16, at the Life Camp residential area in Abuja following intelligence reports of shady activities traced to him.

    Among items recovered from him were a Mercedes Benz C300, Toyota Camry and Lexus Jeep, Seagate hard drive, four laptop computers, an ECOWAS international passport, various wrist watches, Two iPhones and Blackberry phones, and a Samsung phone.

    “Several suspicious emails were also traced to his account.

    “Investigation into the activities of another syndicate traced to the Nova Estate in Apo, led to the arrest of Joel and John Onwechei, both brothers.

    “John the younger of the brothers confessed that he got involved in internet fraud as a student of the Delta State University.

    “He successfully defrauded one Miss Lynese from Zambia, using Facebook in the guise that he is one Carlos Gomes, a British citizen.

    “Among items found in his possession include an iPhone 6 and iPhone 7, and he confessed to having a landed property in Benin, Edo State, all of which he acquired for N1 million he made from internet fraud.

    “Two laptop computers, a white Range Rover Sport, white Mercedes Benz E350, and a grey Toyota Camry were also recovered from him.

    “His brother Joel confessed that he got into yahoo-yahoo  through his brother, and asked him to teach him how to go about love scam.

    “Thereafter, he tried to create an email account, but he was unsuccessful, ” the EFCC spokesman said.

  • 22 Internet fraudsters jailed

    The Benin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it has secured conviction of 22 persons involved in yahoo yahoo (Internet fraud) within its operational base in the last one year.

    It said millions of naira were recovered from the Internet fraudsters, who wanted to reap where they did not sow.

    Head of the Benin Zone Mr. Mailafia Yakubu, who addressed reporters after a road walk to mark this year’s World Anti-Corruption Day, said other fraudsters would soon be convicted.

    He said the commission was working out modalities to curb vote-buying in the coming general election.

    Yakubu said the road walk was to stress the need for Nigerians to continue to draw attention to the ills of corruption and why they should collaborate in combating the menace.

    Read also: Dr Orekunrin Brown’s Flying Doctors operate deceitfully, says witness

    He said: “Corruption and its twin evil, economic and financial crimes have ravaged our nation.

    “It is the bane of our development. It is the reason our power supply is epileptic. It is the reason our country is still touted as a potentially great nation even after many years of sovereign statehood.”

     

     

  • EFCC arrests 12 ‘fraudsters’ in Lagos

    Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday arrested 12 suspected internet fraudsters in an early morning swoop on a club in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    Also seized during the raid were 10 exotic cars abandoned by their fleeing owners.

    “Operatives of the EFCC early this morning raided Club 57 in Ikoyi, Lagos, acting on intelligence report of activities of suspected Internet fraudsters,” the Commission said in a tweet.

    “While some abandoned their exotic cars to evade arrest, some others resisted. 12 suspects were arrested with 10 cars recovered.”

  • EFCC raids Lagos club, arrest 12 suspects

    Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday morning raided Club 57 in Ikoyi Lagos.

    According to a twitter post on the commission’s verified account, EFCC confirmed the arrest of  twelve suspected internet fraudsters.

    The statement reads:

    “Acting on intelligence report of activities of suspected Internet fraudsters. While some abandoned their exotic cars to evade arrest, some others resisted. 12 suspects were arrested, with 10 cars recovered.”

  • Police arrest three suspected internet fraudsters

    The police in Lagos have arrested three suspected internet fraudsters who allegedly specialised in duping property dealers in different parts of the state.

    The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police command, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed this on Monday in a statement.

    The statement said that the suspects were arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

    Those arrested, according to the statement, included a 28-year-old, a 27-year-old and a 33-year-old.

    The statement said that they were picked up last Wednesday in Akwa, Anambra, following intelligence reports.

    It said the suspects had swindled a property dealer in Lagos State of about N4 million while posing as potential clients to perpetrate their crime

    The statement said their arrest came less than a month after the RRS burst another syndicate  of  fraudsters who operated   on the internet.

    ”The suspects are part of internet fraudsters that specialise in hacking into e – mail addresses and using them to send messages seeking transfer of funds in tranches to different accounts.

    ”Unlike the present gang, the other gang comprising of four young men were arrested in Onitsha for hacking into the e – mail account of the CEO of a popular loto company based in Lagos.

    ”They fraudulently transferred N5 million into four separate accounts.

    ”The Lagos-based estate agent claimed he received an e-mail giving payment instructions.

    ”The owner of the e-mail address is his client.

    “It gave payment instructions to transfer funds in his custody to an account belonging to one Emmanuel Ajinubi with First bank Account No. 3046974892.

    ”The first transfer of N800,000 was Oct. 24th , 2016. On 27th Oct., 2016, there was another instruction to transfer N530,000 to the same account.

    ”On Nov. 1, 2016, he transferred N720, 000 into Ifenancho Kingsley (a suspect) First Bank account 3050290672 and further instruction the following day of N850,000 to same account.

    ”The total amount transferred into the two accounts was N3, 820,000,” it said.

    The statement said the victim only realised that the payment instructions did not emanate from his client after he got a phone call from him.

    It said efforts were ongoing to arrest other members of the gangs who were directly involved in the hacking into some corporate and individuals’ e-mail addresses.

    “The three suspects have been transferred to SCID Panti for further investigations,” it added.

     

  • NNPC Internet fraudsters with fake contracts

    NNPC Internet fraudsters with fake contracts

    The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has warned against Internet fraudsters peddling phantom contracts.

    In a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr Ohi Alegbe, in Abuja, the NNPC said internet fraudsters had created a “ phony facebook account” for its new Group Managing Director, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians.

    It stated that the facebook account, bearing the photograph and name of the group managing director (GMD), was created by some faceless internet fraudsters.

    It added that the fraudsters were exploiting the personae and the office of the new GMD to defraud the public.

    The statement explained that the fraudsters had been using the fake facebook page to send all manner of scam letters and phantom contract deals.

    It added that the scammers were also using the same means for “cash solicitations to some highly placed contractors within and outside the oil and gas industry”.

    It said the corporation would curb the menace by all means.

    The group general manager urged the public to disregard the page purportedly belonging to the GMD of NNPC as he had no facebook account.

  • Police arrest three ‘internet fraudsters’ in Ondo

    Police arrest three ‘internet fraudsters’ in Ondo

    The police in Ondo State have arrested three suspected internet fraudsters in Akure, the state capital.

    The suspects, according to the Police Commissioner, Isaac Eke, have allegedly defrauded unsuspecting victims across the country.

    Ike, who spoke through the command’s spokesman, Wole Ogodo, gave the names of the suspects as Wale Ayeni, Fisayo Adetoro and Emmanuel Omole.

    The police boss said  detectives arrested the suspects at a motor park and a hotel in Akure.

    He said Ayeni and Omole are expelled students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA); Adetoro claimed to be a 300-Level student of Computer Science at Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji Arakeji, Osun State.

    Ogodo said: “The syndicate in April through online contact requested for six I-phones, valued at N984,000, from Ajiboye Adeyinka Kabir of Oyekunle Street, Ajegunle, Lagos State. They lied to Ajiboye that they were working at Government House, Akure.

    “Ajiboye brought the I-phones to Akure as requested. On arrival at Ondo Garage, Akure, the suspects took him in their operational vehicle, a Nissan Armanda with Registration Number JS-28-EKY, and pretended to be heading for the Government House, Akure.

    “On the way, they made a detour to Fiwasaye-Ijapo Road, Akure, where they forcefully took the I-phones from Ajiboye, and pushed him out of the vehicle.

    “Ajiboye was taken to the Police Clinic, Akure, for treatment. The syndicate also contacted Akinola Segun of Awolowo Way, Ikeja, Lagos, and placed an order for another set of five I-phones from valued at N820,000.

    “They lied that they were lecturers at the Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin. On arrival in Akure, they conveyed Akinola to a hotel on Ondo Road, where they drugged his food and made away with the phones.”

    The police spokesman said nemesis caught up with the suspects when they unknowingly contacted Akinola Segun on a different website and ordered for five I-phones, and deceitfully presented themselves as lecturers from the College of Agriculture, Akure.

    He said Akinola immediately contacted the Akure Area Command’s office where the Area Commander, Edward Ajogun, with his team of detectives employed best professional tactics leading to their arrest.

    Their operational vehicle valued at N2.5 million has been impounded. Also recovered from them were three gold rings, necklace and earring valued at N667, 000.