How fraudsters hacked, transferred N523m from bank customer’s account — Police

The Lagos State Police Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, has arrested two suspects for allegedly hacking an old generation bank customer’s account and transferred N523,337,100 from it.

According to the spokesman of the Unit, SP Eyitayo Johnson, the suspected fraudsters carried out the cyber-attack in three days.

They transferred the money from the account to 18 different accounts in the same bank and then moved into 225 other accounts domiciled in 22 other banks and financial institutions.

Johnson said the coordinated cyber-attack was carried out on Saturday, April 23, till the early hours of Monday April 25, 2022, before business opened, adding that two suspects had been arrested in connection to the crime.

 According to him, “The legal section of the Police Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi-Lagos, headed by CSP E. A. Jackson, has successfully obtained an order of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, for the preservation/forfeiture/attachment of a net sum of N523,337,100 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.

 “In the course of the investigation, the sum of N160,287,071.47 was recovered from different banks; with two suspects arrested, while operatives are following other leads in order to apprehend the remaining members of the syndicate. The suspects will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.”