File photo: Ibrahim Magu
The Abuja Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered the sum of N423 million, $39,253 and €2,330 between January and August 2019.
Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu who was represented by the Head of the Abuja Office, Aminu Ado Aliyu, disclosed this at a press briefing on Tuesday.
According to Aliyu, the zone has been focusing on cybercrime through intelligence gathering and collaboration with other agencies across the world.
“Prior to the release of the FBI list, we had in collaboration with the FBI, cases under investigation of which two suspects indicted in the list released by the FBI are in our custody.
“On the other hand, another suspect on the list is being investigated independently on a different case and his case is pending arraignment,” he said.
He further explained that the suspects, Chika Augustine and Godspower Nwachukwu, were arrested in Abuja and $35,000 was recovered from one of them (Chika Augustine).
The Zonal Head also disclosed that 33 convictions have been secured from January 2019 till date; 293 arrests have made and over 465 cases are currently under investigation.
He further warned that the modus operandi of the cybercriminals include, and are not limited to love scams, e-mail phishing, identity theft and fraudulent bitcoin and crypto currency sales, and therefore, cautioned the public to be more vigilant.
Specifically, he warned against the prevalence of fraudulent Bitcoin sales which he says has been on the rise.
