By; RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE, Lagos
Two brothers and an accomplice who operate as syndicate, using point of sale (POS) to defraud unsuspecting operators, have been arrested by the police through Force National Cybercrime Centre, an innovation of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba.
The trio, identified as Felix Oluwaseun, Adeleye Oluwaseun, Sanmi Ayodeji aged 24, 32 and 29 years respectively, were alleged to have defrauded the owner of a POS platform known as Tmoni Technologies the total sum of Sixteen Million, One Hundred and Forty-Nine Thousand, One Hundred and Ninety-Five (N16,149,195.00) only.
The Force public relations officer CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi who made the disclosure, said the case is amongst the numerous concluded cases by the centre.
Giving details of the modus operandi of the syndicate, Adejobi said, “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 N16.1m 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 Force spokesperson said 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.
According to Adejobi, ” 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, interpolnigeria@npf.gov.ng or on the NPF Cybercrime Reporting Portal – https://incb.npf.gov.ng/.
” 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 suspects will be charged to court as soon as possible” .
Adejobi explained that ” The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre, an innovation of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, NEAPS, fdc, CFR, to effectively tackle cybercrime offences, and which led to the reorganization 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 in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo, mni”.
