The Police Special Fraud Unit, PSFU said it has obtained an order from the Federal High Court for the forfeiture of a net sum of N523 million which was fraudulently transferred by internet fraudsters who hacked a customer’s account domiciled in one of the old-generation banks.
This is contained in a press release signed by SP Eyitayo Johnson, Police Public Relations Officer for Commissioner of Police, Police Special Fraud Unit Ikoyi, Lagos and seen by Nairametrics.
According to the statement, the fund was posted into 18 different accounts in the same Bank before transmitting the same to 225 other accounts in 22 Financial Institutions.
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What they are saying
The statement read, in part, “The Legal Section of the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), Ikoyi-Lagos; headed by CSP. E. A. Jackson, Esq; has successfully obtained an order of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos for the Preservation/Forfeiture/Attachment of a net sum of Five Hundred and Twenty-Three Million, Three Hundred and Thirty-Seven Thousand and One Hundred Naira (N523,337,100.00) fraudulently transferred by internet fraudsters who hacked a customer’s account domiciled in one of the Old-Generation banks and posted the funds into eighteen (18) different accounts in the same Bank before transmitting same to Two Hundred and Twenty-Five (225) other accounts in Twenty-Two (22) Banks/Financial Institutions.”
Notably, the coordinated cyber-attack was carried out during the weekend of Saturday 23rd April 2022, through Sunday 24th April 2022 to the early hours of Monday 25th April 2022 before business opened.
In the course of the investigation, however, the sum of N160,287,071.47 has been recovered from different Banks; with two suspects arrested, while operatives are following other leads in order to apprehend the remaining members of the syndicate.
It added that the suspects will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
In case you missed it
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently charged 2 Nigerians for $6.2million wire fraud after they attempted to steal $25.2million from almost 2 dozen public and private entities around the United States, including at least one in Oregon.
- Also, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a Nigerian man, 29-year-old Chidozie Collins Obasi has been declared wanted by the United States for defrauding hospitals in the New York Area to the tune of $31 million.
- The heist, which was perpetrated between September 2018 and June 2020, involved offering non-existent COVID-19 ventilators for sale in hospitals mostly in the New York area.
