Tag: Cyber Crime

Police parades 13 cyber crime suspects, recovers over N90m worth of drugs

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Edgal Imohimi on Tuesday paraded 13 suspects arrested for cross border and cyber crime and recovered over N90m worth of drugs.

The CP, who was addressing journalists at the command, said the cross border crime suspects, all Beninois specialised in snatching exotic cars in Nigeria and driving it to Benin Republic to sell.

Imohimi, while narrating how a victim’s car was snatched by the gang at gun point, said that the victim had gone to use an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) when his Toyota Prado jeep was taken.

The commissioner said their exploit started on Jan. 21 at Ajose Adeogun, Victoria Island, Lagos when the owner of a Toyota Prado jeep went to use a Zenith Bank ATM.

“After using the ATM, before he could drive off, the three hoodlums that had been stalking him forced him out of the car to the back seat and drove off.

“He was later stripped naked and dropped somewhere at Ikoyi while his car was driven away with mobile phones, a laptop computer and N45,000 cash.

“When the hoodlums got to Ikoyi, they sighted a couple in a Toyota Jeep buying barbecue at Southern Sun area. The hoodlums forcibly took control of the car and drove the victims away.

“The victims’ wife was later dropped at a junction before third mainland bridge the husband was dropped on third mainland bridge.

“After a careful analysis and undercover operations, on Feb. 11, the group was intercepted at mile 2 while on a mission,” he said.

Imohinmi said an AK-47 rifle, 43 rounds of ammunitions, one locally made cut to size double barrel gun, six life cartridges, one licensed plate number and assorted charms were recovered from the hoodlums.

The suspects were paraded alongside a native doctor who specialised in preparing charms for the suspects.

In another development, six suspects who specialise in stealing mobile phones with intention to generate the user’s bank details and withdraw their money were also paraded by the police.

According to Imohimi, the suspects were arrested following reports on their activities in various parts of the state.

“On Feb. 7, at 6pm, one Mrs Kemi Benson had reported to the police at Egbeda that her sister’s phone was stolen at a birthday party.

“When the victim went for SIM card replacement, as soon as she inserted her Sim into her phone, she received a bank alert of N1.153m transferred from her account to other banks.

“After investigation, gangs who specialise in dispossessing victims of their mobile phone with the use of motorcycle were apprehended.

“The gang is made up of two groups. One specialises in snatching the mobile phone and sell to the other group to generate bank details and BVN to transfer money from the account,” he said.

The commissioner said disclosed that 10 laptops, one Infinix mobile phone and 10 SIM cards were recovered from the hoodlums.

He called on members of the public who had been victims of the cyber fraudsters especially those that had their phones stolen at Iyana-Ipaja, Iba, Festac and Alaba to come to the command.

183 wraps of drugs suspected to be Marijuana, 129 wraps of substance suspected to be cocaine and bottled hard drugs worth over N90m were recovered at suspected criminals’ hideout at Akala.

The CP disclosed that the command was working on getting a court order to destroy the recovered drugs.

February 20, 2018
Internet Fraud: US jails Nigeria’s Fawaz Animasaun for two years over $1m scam

A Nigerian, Fawaz Olanrewaju Animasaun will spend the next two years in jail in the United States for defrauding East Texans and others out of nearly $1m.

Twenty-seven-year-old Animasaun, is one of two persons named in a federal indictment for charges of aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, as well as aiding and abetting.

He was travelling to the U.S. from Ghana, by way of Amsterdam, when he was arrested at the airport in New York in November last year.

Just a few weeks later, the 7-foot-1-inch tall Nigerian was an inmate at the Gregg County Jail awaiting his turn in a federal courtroom.

Under a plea agreement finalised in May, Animasaun is serving three years in prison on the conspiracy charge. He is ordered to pay $930,737.60 in restitution to three financial companies.

Court documents show Animasaun will pay $135,989 to East Texas-based Austin Bank as part of that restitution.

In addition, the agreement states that Northern Trust Company is due $46,800 and UMB Financial Corporation is due $747,948.60.

Animasaun and his alleged accomplice Idowu Temitope Omolade, also from Nigeria, are believed to be involved in at least 21 fraudulent wire transfers between April and August of 2012.

And that may not be all.

A rare footnote made by a U.S. Attorney in the 21-page federal indictment reads, “Because the purpose of this complaint is to set forth only those facts necessary to establish probable cause to arrest, I have not described all the relevant facts and circumstances of which I am aware.”

The indictment says the purpose of the conspiracy was to “… unlawfully obtain money through unauthorised transfers of funds from bank accounts and brokerage accounts.”

To do that, the Nigerian men allegedly impersonated actual account holders in emails exchanged with banking and financial services personnel. In those email conversations, the indictment says the suspects “… harvested details about the target accounts, including account balances, and obtained wire transfer instructions.” With those details, the suspects were then able to initiate a wire transfer without the account holder’s knowledge or authorization.

The indictment said that the money was moved through a series of accounts using “money mules,” or people who may or may not have known they were assisting in the transfer.

Other financial institutions affected include Wells Fargo, UMB Bank, UMB Financial Corporation, Northern Trust and Northern Trust Corporation.

Animasaun was transferred out of the Gregg County Jail on June 28, in the custody of the U.S. Marshals. Federal Bureau of Prisons records show he is now in a detention centre in Brooklyn, New York, and will remain there until June 2019. He could have received up to 30 years in prison for each count of the indictment.

The indictment states that Animasaun kept Omolade informed of the progress, and told him when to expect specific wire transfers. Omolade is not listed as a federal inmate, and there is no record of an arrest. Aliases listed in the indictment include “Michael Chernick” and “CLICKIDONLINE.”

Animasaun is listed in the indictment with four aliases, including “Larry Hoover” and “Slim Husstle Olanraywaju.”

July 11, 2017
How Nigerian musicians glorify, profit from cyber crime

By Omotayo Ojo

The music industry in Nigeria in its contemporary state is so much awash with indecency to the extent that when you turn on your radio or download a song, there is the likelihood you hear songs that subtly promote cyber crime.

Innocently, some music lovers who are more thrilled by the rhythms of songs rather than lyrics have lent their support to the popularisation of these groovy but morally blank songs, without having an inkling of the messages conveyed in the said music.

This rapid disappearance of morality in Nigeria’s music space is fueled by the harmonious fantasy [life is all about flamboyance] existing between artistes and cyber criminals.

Recently, a heated debate on the melodious relationship between our young artistes and cybercrime ravaged the internet after, a lawyer turned rapper, Falz generally condemned usage of slangs related to ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’, our own Lingua Franca for cybercrime.

Many music lovers believed Falz was attacking 9ice’s Living Things and this was how the discourse became a viral topic.

In the ‘Living things’ song, 9ice mentioned all forms of cybercrime ranging from ”Wire-Wire” and “Money Order” – which are both common means cyber criminals adopt in transferring money from their victims’ bank account to themselves; he also referenced marriage fraud.

He particularly explained the marriage fraud, a part of his lyrics said in Yoruba, “O le je kan ma marry…kin sha ti lowo” which intepretes as a feigned romantic intentions towards a victim, gaining their affection, and then using that goodwill to commit fraud.

We will never forget other songs like ‘Yahooze’ from Olu Maintain; Kelly Hansome’s ‘Maga don pay’; Rapper, Olamide even named his record label ‘Yahoo-Boy-No-Laptop’, all of the tagging along with ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ mentality is what most of Nigerian artistes relied on for a quick glory in a country where morality is on the low.

In fact, saying Nigerian artistes promote cyber crime will be an understatement, especially when some of them who were baptised in the waters of cyber crime are already resurrecting in the global scene as fraudsters.

Profiting from crime

Recently Singer, Oyindamola Johnson Emmanuel, popularly known as Dammy Krane was arrested on several counts related to theft in the American city of Miami.

Krane was arrested by TapJets, the Private Jet service provider who he allegedly intended to deceive, by booking their service with a stolen credit card.

Also, recall that in July 2016, Nigerian rapper, Babalola Falemi, popularly known as Sauce Kid was sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing $15,388 using stolen credit card numbers in Boise and Meridian Idaho, United States of America.

Entertainers in Nigeria’s movie industry are equally not sainted in this whole affairs, as there are instances where script writers infuse cyber crime related dialogues in their script to portray ‘quick-money’ syndrome and the industry as also witnessed its own share of actors, actresses who have been indicted, punished in their wild chase for money.

In 2006, A popular Yoruba movie actress, Hassanat Akinwande Taiwo, popularly known as Yetunde Wunmi was arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for cocaine trafficking. This is denting the country’s national image and making us undesirable in the comity of nations.Nigeria’s image as a country has been seriously tarnished by the above specie of cyber-crimes.

Nigeria’s image as a country has been seriously tarnished by the above species of cyber-crimes.

Quoting a report from the Office of the National Security Adviser, Buhari once said “Nigeria has been ranked third in global internet crimes, coming after United States of America and United Kingdom respectively.

July 8, 2017
Cyber crimes: Panelists discuss ‘yahoo boyfriends’ [video included]

While some see ‘yahoo boys’ as criminals, others see them as just people running normal every day business to make ends meet.

This was the subject of debate on TNG Unscripted, a popular show making wave on the Internet, especially on social media.

Given the fact that not only boys are involved in ‘yahoo’ otherwise known as Internet fraud, advance fee fraud or rather 419, the topic: “Why Do We Celebrate #Cybercrimes [#YahooYahoo] in Nigeria?” became a hard nut to crack.

Panelists were divided on their views on the way they see people involved in the act, and how they see people who are related to them.

“I can fall helplessly for a yahoo guy,” Ada enthused, making clear that she cannot say she’s never gonna date a yahoo guy because she hasn’t really found herself in such a situation.

The project manager of Africa’s number one wedding site, Sarah who made it to the show, said if she finds out her boo is a g-boy, she is going to be so so furious, but that she is not going to turn him in to law enforcement agents.

“I will advise him to stop,” she said, with Ada saying she wouldn’t advise any lady to date a yahoo guy.

“What I am trying to say in that, I know a friend who dates only yahoo guys but would never date non-yahoo guys — guys who are broke,” Ada revealed.

Popular comedian, Pastor Runz, however, said ladies are not actually attracted to these yahoo guys, but that they are actually attracted to the money, Ada was of a different opinion as you would find out in the video.

Othuke, also of WeddingGuru, opines that yahoo guys can actually be good boyfriends.

“The guy might have a good character and possess a good personality; he is just being into yahoo.

“He has chosen the illegal path to life; that’s the difference,” she submitted.

The panelists talked about how parents see their kids who are involved in this business. They were so so divided on whether girls stick to their yahoo boyfriends when ‘yawa gas,’ but, however divided they were, they unanimously agreed that #YahooYahoo is a bad business to be involved in.

The video sha tells it all…

https://www.facebook.com/thenewsgurung/videos/464827600533205/

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July 1, 2017
NATO angered by cyber attacks, mulls activating Article 5

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has said the alliance is gravely infuriated by the spate of ransomware cyber attacks that has rocked the globe.

The NATO scribe said this at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, and insisted the Organization will not hesitate to take action by activating Article 5.

Ukraine was hit the most by Petya — the latest global cyber attack –that is believed to have been designed to cause chaos rather than extort money, with Ukrainian officials fingering Russia.

Russia has been alleged to be fighting an undeclared war with Ukraine in the east of the country and has been blamed for previous cyber attacks on Kiev, The Telegraph reported.

Stoltenberg said NATO is providing help to Ukraine, and that the alliance will continue to do so, so that the country can bolster its cyber defence systems.

“The attack in May and this week just underlines the importance of strengthening our cyber defences and that is what we are doing,” The Telegraph reports Stoltenberg as saying.

“NATO helps Ukraine with cyber defence and has established a trust fund to finance programs to help Ukraine improve its cyber defences.

“We will continue to do this and it is an important part of our cooperation,” the NATO scribe further stated.

Stoltenberg said the North Atlantic Alliance had defined cyber defence as a NATO domain on a par with land, air, and sea operations, and would see similar planning and funding as a result, and that alliance members agreed last year that a cyber attack could trigger Article 5 of the north Atlantic treaty in the same way as a conventional military assault.

The NATO scribe said further attacks on member countries could force the activation the alliance mutual defence clause.

TheNewsGuru reports NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

July 1, 2017