The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) National Cybercrime Centre, has bursted a Point Of Sale (POS) fraud syndicate for over N16 million theft.
Force Public Rwlqtionw Officer (FPRO), CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a press statement, Tuesday in Abuja.
He said, “The NPF National Cybercrime Centre, an innovation of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Baba, to effectively tackle cybercrime offences, and which led to the reorganisation of all cybercrime units of the Force, has recorded salient achievements in less than one month from the commencement of operations under the purview of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo.
“Amongst the numerous concluded cases by the Centre, is a case of unlawful access to a computer network and manipulation of a POS network to defraud the unsuspecting owner of the total sum of N16,149,195 only by all-male trio of Sanmi Ayodeji, 29; Felix Oluwaseun, 24; and Adeleye Oluwaseun, 32.”
According to the Spokesperson, “The suspects signed up on a POS platform known as Tmoni Technologies Company using their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and those of their friends and relatives without their consent.
“They proceeded to open valid wallet accounts with Tmoni, manipulated the company network security system, and fraudulently transferred funds to the tune of N16.1 million from the Tmoni platform to various online accounts from where they made subsequent withdrawals.
“The suspects were eventually arrested in Ibadan, Oyo state, by operatives of the NPF National Cybercrime Centre, after an official complaint was lodged by the financial controller of the Tmoni platform.
“Upon their arrest, the suspects were found in possession of several mobile phones, POS machines, SIM cards, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, and one Toyota Matrix car with registration no. KUJ 548 CN which they confessed was bought with proceeds of the crime:
Adejobi further stated that, “The Inspector-General of Police while calling on users of online banking platforms to be vigilant with regard to their personal information, urges all citizens and residents in the country, as stakeholders in ensuring maximum security, to report all suspicious cyber activities via 09168343711, [email protected] or on the NPF Cybercrime Reporting Portal –
“The IGP similarly commended the Director, NPF National Cybercrime Centre, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Uche Ifeanyi Henry, for his diligence and dedication which has led to the breakthroughs recorded so far.”
The FPRO said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as possible.
