A team of fraudsters have hacked into the system of one of Nigeria’s Tier 1 banks, stealing N523,337,100 from a customer’s account.

The fraudsters posted the funds into 18 different accounts in the same old generation bank before transmitting the N523 million to 225 other accounts in 22 banks/financial institutions in Nigeria.

Spokesperson for the Police Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi, Lagos State, SP Eyitayo Johnson, in a statement on Wednesday, said the cyber-attack was carried out for three days on Saturday April 23 till Monday April 23, 2022.

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According to Johnson, “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.”

Meanwhile, the SFU has charged one Sikiru Olayinka along with his company, Excampo Nigeria Limited, to the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, for fraudulently converting and stealing $123,000 wrongly transferred into his company’s domiciliary account on September 5, 2018.

Johnson said: “On receipt of the funds into his account, Sikiru Olawale, within hours, quickly visited the bank and transferred $120,000.00 in two tranches into accounts of his cronies. The bank made concerted efforts to recover the funds in order to channel same to the rightful account but Sikiru Olayinka refused and frustrated these efforts and continued to dissipate the money contrary to the provisions of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 1991, and the Failed Banks Act, 1994.”

The Star