EFCC arrests fraudster that buys bank account details for N25,000

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Benin Zonal Directorate, has arrested a suspected fraudster, Olawole Sunday, who buys bank account details for fraudulent activities. The division noted that Sunday purchases the information from individuals with whom he defrauds unsuspecting members of the public.

Providing further details, EFCC said his modus operandi involved encouraging young people to open multiple bank accounts, pay them either N25,000 or N50,000 for each account, and collect their bank details, including Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards.

In one of his operations, Sunday allegedly deployed the account details of a victim, Uyi Godstime Eghosa, to defraud a petitioner of N2 million under the guise of trading in forex. According to the EFCC, the account owner, Eghosa, was arrested and claimed he was unaware that his account was used by fraudsters. His confession led to Sunday’s arrest.

In addition, Eghosa explained that he provided his account details and his ATM card on Sunday after he received a N25,000 payment. Upon his arrest by the agency, Sunday confessed to the crime and would be made to face the wrath of the law upon conclusion of investigations.

While Sunday’s case is one of many, it further reinstates the high rate of Cybercrime in the country and the world at large.

See Also: Nigeria Police arrests 113 Chinese and Malaysians for ‘high-level’ cybercrime.

In a related incident, last week, the Lagos State Police Command arrested four cybercrime suspects in an uncovered illegal hideout known as a “Yahoo School”. The cybercriminals, or Yahoo boys as they are called, were arrested alongside six trainees, which included a 12-year-old child, in the Iju area of the state. 

The four cybercrime suspects, described as Yahoo experts who are running the illegal group with training in cybercrime and fraud, are Chibuike Ihejika, 23; Stanley Ihejika, 22; Obiora Oyediba, 26; and Emmanuel Oyedibe, 25.

The Lagos police division explained that their investigation revealed that the suspects recruited their trainees from Anambra state and engaged them in several cybercrime-related activities, while the ring leaders confiscated the proceeds from their fraudulent activities. 

The command urged residents to report every suspicious activity or incident to the police in their localities for prompt action.

EFCC’s clamp down on cybercrime 

According to the EFCC, about $500m was lost to cybercrime in 2024, accounting for the largest share of 3,455 cases recorded.  

The agency Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, while sharing the data in 2024, expressed that “Projections by multiple sources show that the global loss to cybercrime may reach a staggering $10.5tn. The research I did earlier this year confirmed that cybercrime has become the third largest crime in the world with approximately 2,328 cases occurring daily”, he said.

While expressing concerns about the rise of cybercrime in the country and the ultimate cost, he stressed that assets recovered always get returned to cybercrime victims. 

“The implication of all this is that if left unchecked, cybercrimes pose grave dangers to the entire world. A significant portfolio of choice assets has also been recovered and returned to both local and foreign victims of cybercrimes by the commission.”

Olukoyede shared EFCC’s ongoing plans and implementation strategies to curb cybercrime where he highlighted that the agency is building a cybercrime research centre.

“We are putting up a Cybercrime Research Centre in collaboration with one of the fintechs in Nigeria. The centre will take a minimum of 500 young Nigerians at a time and train them in cyber security and all areas of cybercrime research so that we’ll be able to make something out of them,” he added.

Olukoyede also informed that a Rapid Response Desk has been established which shall receive various cybercrime complaints.