Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Kaduna zonal office, said it has recovered N198.7 million and $48,000 in cash and draft from January 2019 till date.
The monies recovered was in addition to the arrest of 48 internet fraudsters and conviction for 23 within the months under review.
Zonal head, Mailafia Yakubu, while addressing newsmen in his office added that the commission had also collaborated with the Federal Bureau for Investigation (FBI) to ensure effective support in the discharge of its statutory roles.
According to Mailafiya, “the collaboration between the commission and the FBI has led to the recovery of the sum of $314,000 and about N373, 000,000 from computer related fraud perpetrators has been traced and recovery made, while N373m has been traced to various commercial banks.
“The zonal office from January to date received 345 petitions, 286 were considered for investigations, 52 forwarded to legal and prosecution department, 56 cases in court, recovered N198,727,241.5million and $48,000 in cash and draft.
“The recently joint operations conducted by the commission had yielded tremendous success while some of the suspects arrested, prosecuted and convicted. One of the suspect linked to FBI wanted list was arrested in Kaduna.
“Prior to the collaboration effort with the FBI, the Kaduna zonal office of the commission through intelligence launches several sting operations on various computer related frauds which resulted in the arrests of 48 internet fraud in their hideout among which the zone secured conviction of 23 while others are in various stages of investigation and prosecution.
“Their modus of operandi, includes cloning of foreign numbers which they in turn use to create fictitious emails accounts on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Skype, Google hang out and they also use the same fake email addresses to open account on foreign online dating site and also open foreign bank accounts with the help of their counterpart living abroad. They also use fake documents to perpetrate illegal activities in the cyber space.
“Few among this type of fraud include love/romance scam, contract/ company scam, Bit coin business scam, employment scam, online dating, travel scam, impersonation scam among others.