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A syndicate in Nigeria has been discovered to have defrauded over 1,000 bank accounts, specializing in hacking into bank customers’ portals to commit financial crimes. Two members of the syndicate were apprehended by the Lagos State Police, who were able to track them down after receiving a petition from an affected bank. The police have recovered SIM cards used to withdraw money from victims’ accounts and have identified the two suspects as Yusuf Ademola and Adeshina Abiodun. The syndicate was found to be spread throughout the country and used coordinated methods to carry out their operations. Investigation is ongoing and efforts are being made to arrest the other suspects involved.
According to members of a syndicate specializing in hacking into bank customers’ portals to commit financial crimes, over 1000 customers’ bank accounts have been defrauded across Nigeria.
Recently, two members of the syndicate were apprehended by operatives of the Lagos State Police Zone 2 Command in Onikan, Lagos.
The arrest came after a petition was submitted by an affected old-generation bank two months ago, prompting a team of detectives from the Zonal Monitoring Unit to investigate and track down the suspects.
The Police have recovered SIM cards used by the two suspects to withdraw money from victims’ accounts. The suspects, identified as Yusuf Ademola (40) and Adeshina Abiodun (50), confessed to successfully moving money from over 1,000 bank customers’ accounts.
The syndicate operates nationwide and is highly coordinated, with members specialized in collating SIM cards and stealing victims’ phones. They would then pass the SIM cards to another team that would gather the victims’ bank details and transfer them to syndicate members in different states for electronic withdrawals.
Two old-generation banks have been identified as having their access codes known to the syndicate.
Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the zone, AIG Mohammed Ali, stated that the investigation is ongoing to arrest the remaining suspects.
During interrogation, one of the suspects claimed to be a mere errand boy for the syndicate, stating that he was asked to open bank accounts using phone numbers provided by his friend in Kano.
The other suspect admitted to changing the phone number associated with his account as requested by the first suspect.
