Two are Apprehended for Hacking a Bank for N523,337,100.

An old generation bank (name withheld) was breached by fraudsters, who stole a staggering N523,337,100 in a single day.

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NewsReports that the bank hacking group has already been busted by the authorities, who have detained two of its members. However, the police claimed they have intensified their quest for other members of the gang who are on the run at the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), where the case is being examined.

According Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), PSFU, SP. Eyitayo Johnson, the fraudsters hit the bank of N523,337,100.00 using the accounts 18 different customers’ accounts and dissipated the same via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Cash/ATM/POS/Withdrawals, and e-transfers.

“The Legal Section of the Police PSFU, 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 N523,337,100.00 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.

” The coordinated cyber-attack was carried out during the weekend of Saturday, April 23, 2022, through Sunday, April 24, 2022, to the early hours of Monday, April 24, 2022, before the business opened.

” In the course of the investigation, the sum of N160,287,071.47 has been recovered from different banks; with two suspects arrested, while operatives are following other leads to apprehend the remaining members of the syndicate”.

He said the suspects would be charged to Court as soon as investigations are concluded.

Commissioner of Police, PSFU, Anyasinti Josephine Nneka, has advised banks and financial institutions on the need to increase their Cyber-Security Surveillance, and conduct routine background checks on staff who have login privileges that could be compromised to make banks porous to cyber-attacks. She equally enjoins the public on the need to investigate sources of unexpected inflows into their accounts. Where such funds are found to have been wrongly credited, the recipient should cooperate with their banks and make conscious efforts to reverse/re-route the same, as utilizing such funds is a criminal offense.