The Nigeria Police Force, through the has uncovered a sophisticated fraud syndicate allegedly responsible for diverting more than N713.9 million from customers’ bank accounts.
The breakthrough followed a complaint from a financial institution in Nigeria over a series of unauthorized debits traced to security breaches linked to a third-party platform.
The development was disclosed in a statement on Wednesday by Force Public Relations Officer, Anthony Okon Placid. According to the police, operatives of the unit deployed advanced investigative and digital forensic tools, which revealed that no fewer than 15 customers’ accounts had been compromised, with the stolen funds allegedly moved through multiple accounts in a coordinated money laundering scheme.
The investigation led to the arrest of two suspects, Oguntoyinbo Olawale and Kazeem Omokayode.
Further findings by investigators showed that the suspects allegedly worked with a Chinese national identified simply as Linda, who is currently on the run, to use personal identification details, including Bank Verification Numbers and National Identification Numbers, to open multiple bank accounts across different financial institutions.
Police said the accounts were subsequently used to receive, conceal, and launder proceeds of the alleged fraud.
The suspects currently in custody are expected to be arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction, while efforts have been intensified to track down other members of the syndicate still at large.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, commended officers of the Special Fraud Unit for the breakthrough and reaffirmed the commitment of the police to tackling financial and cyber-enabled crimes.
