The current Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is alleged to have lost N8 million to undergraduate computer hackers.
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) based in Ikeja has named two current Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Awka) students, Ebuka Orumba and Patrick Nwafor as suspects. The duo are alleged to have hacked into a Simmons Cooper Partner bank account, the law firm that was listed as property of Prof. Osinbajo during the much publicized constitutional asset declaration exercise.
The students are said to have hacked into the email of Mr Tunde Irukera, Simmons Cooper's account manager. The hackers used the compromised Simmons Cooper's email address to contact UBA on July 2nd to demand a transfer of N8 million from the Simmons Cooper account to three accounts belonging to the alleged criminals.
One of the bank accounts has been identified as a Zenith account, number 2086943174. The account held N3 million which had been transferred to a fictional Engineer Asukwo Okoro. It had been fraudulently opened by a Mr Artur Kalu. Mr Kalu was arrested by SARS officers when he tried to empty the account.
On questioning Mr Kalu the police received information that enabled them to arrest Orumba and identify Nwafor as the third member of the operation. Nwafor is still wanted for questioning. The trio face charges of conspiracy, theft and fraud.
In today’s digital age, fraudulent bank transfer scams that rely on targeted email phishing have become increasingly common. Hackers can often use data that can be found with a simple online search to craft believable, fraudulent emails and trick businesses into quickly sending funds by creating fake situations and fake profiles. The Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) has previously given warning that users are being bombarded with phishing emails.
Users are advised to educate themselves on the ever increasing dangers of phishing and how to safeguard their online activity with healthy security practices.
Internet savvy individuals refrain from divulging unwarranted levels of personal information on social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Being miserly with personal data online decreases the likelihood of becoming a target to cyber-criminals.
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