The Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police has cracked down a syndicate that specialises in hacking into bank customers’ accounts and arrested two suspects.
The Zonal Public Relations Officer, SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu, confirmed the arrest in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.
Idris-Adamu said that the arrest followed a petition received from a bank by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of the Zone comprising Lagos and Ogun, Mr Mohammed Ali.
“On the 8th of May 2023, a petition was submitted by United Bank for Africa (UBA) to the AIG that there are some syndicates that specialise on internet fraud of various banks in Nigeria, most especially United Bank for Africa (UBA).
“They hack into customers accounts and move their money.
“Based on the petition, the AIG raised a team of detectives from the Zonal Monitoring Unit, which swung into action with the aid of modern technology.
“The two suspects were tracked down at their hideout at Ijebu Ode, Ogun State,” she said.
According to the official, the suspects confessed to the crime.
“They confessed that they had many syndicates all over Nigeria and that they used software to hack into customers’ accounts and move their money undetected from any bank.
“The modus operandi of these fraudsters is to have a customer’s BVN-linked phone number for easy transfer of money.
“Consequently, over 1,000 customers’ accounts have been hacked and the customers defrauded across the country,” she said.
She said that further investigation into the incident revealed that members of the syndicates were from different parts of the country.
She said that efforts were being intensified to arrest all those connected with the crime.
According to her, investigation is ongoing while the suspects will be arraigned on completion of investigation.
