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By Christopher Oji
Fraudsters have hacked into an old generation bank (name withheld) stealing a whopping N523,337,100.00 in one day.
Already, the police have cracked the gang that hacked into the bank and arrested two members of the ring. However, the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), where the case is being investigated, said they have stepped up a manhunt for other members of the syndicate who are on the run.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) (PSFU), Eyitayo Johnson, said the fraudsters hit the bank of N523,337,100.00, using the accounts 18 different customers and dissipated same via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Cash/ATM/POS/withdrawals and e-transfers.
“The Legal Section of the Police PSFU, Ikoyi, Lagos, headed by CSP. E. A. Jackson, has successfully obtained an order of the Federal High Court, Lagos, for the Preservation/Forfeiture/Attachment of a net sum of 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 18 different accounts in the same bank before transmitting same to 225 other accounts in 22 banks/financial institutions.
“The coordinated cyber-attack was carried out during the weekend of Saturday, April 23, 2022, through Sunday, April 24, 2022 to the early hours of Monday, April 24, 2022, before business opened.
“In the course of the investigation, 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.”
He said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, PSFU, Anyasinti Josephine Nneka, has advised banks and financial institutions to increase their Cyber-Security Surveillance, conduct routine background checks on staff who have login privileges that could be compromised to make banks porous to cyber attacks. She equally enjoined the public to investigate sources of unexpected inflows into their accounts. Where such funds are found to have been wrongly credited, the recipient should cooperate with their banks and make conscious efforts to reverse/re-route the same, as utilising such funds is a criminal offence.
