A 28-year-old suspected hacker has been arrested for defrauding a Lagos car dealer of N28 million Porsche car, using false bank alert.
Parading the suspect on Monday, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, said that the suspect was also capable of shutting down CCTV Cameras for 67 minutes using software.
“On March 23, my office received a complaint that there exists a syndicate that goes to car shops to buy cars.
“The syndicate would then configure a computer programme that would send a fake payment alert to the seller and by so doing, obtains a car under false pretences.
“Such was the case of one Abidogun Adewale whose car shop played host to the leader of this syndicate who bought a Porsche car at a whopping price of N28 million.
“He, thereafter, requested for the seller’s bank account number and made it look like he had paid him via the fake alert to his phone using HTTP tunnel.com.
“The suspect drove the car away unknown to the seller that he had been scammed. However, based on his complaint, a manhunt was launched on the fleeing suspect.
“The Command availed detectives of the FSARS necessary intelligence asset which led to the arrest of the suspect in Lekki, Lagos.
“This suspect was interrogated and he confessed to committing the crime. He led detectives to Asaba, Delta State, where the stolen Porsche car was recovered.
“He also led detectives to Owerri, Imo State, where two Camry cars he stole in a similar fashion were recovered,” the police boss said.
Imohimi urged banks to put in place more advance security to protect customers.
He said the modus operandi of the suspect, who has a good mastery of cyber environment, was to create a credit card through cyber ghost 12.
“When the credit card matures, it is then funded through a hacked Swiss account. Any transaction anybody is doing through the Swiss account, the suspect manipulates such and wire the fund to his contrived credit card.
“This is possible with the aid of cyber ghost 12 HTTP/tunnel.azinytv4/vpn (virtual private network),’’ he said.
The police boss said that the suspect also had software which enabled him to shut down any working CCTV system of his interest on yt.com, an internet sophistication e.g. youtube/facebook and make them unworkable for 67 minutes.
According to Imohimi, the suspect claimed he is not a computer scientist but a professional hacker.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the suspect had worked as a hospital staff in Lagos before traveling to Canada.
“In Canada, the building I was staying was filled up so I had to move in with a man from Israel where I learnt about hacking.
“I get money online not from any individual. It is a free world online. I have no idea how much I have made. I target Hollywood actors like John Travolta who does transactions every week.
“I intercept money worth millions of dollars online and divert to a credit card which I have created. When you are a hacker, you are a bank to yourself,” the suspect said.
In another development, two men were arrested for demanding clients bank details through unregistered GSM lines.
According to the CP, the suspects specializes in calling unsuspecting members of the public/ public servants, pretending to be bank officials and demanding their bank account numbers and ATM details.
“On the 19th April, 2018, a complaint about this syndicate was received from a staff of Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps,’’ he said.
The CP said that the official was called by the gang via GSM number: 08084480521 requesting his account number and ATM details.
“Based on this, he went to his bank, where the official told him that his account had been blocked due to the activities of the internet fraudsters.
“Investigation into the case led to the arrest of two suspects. Both suspects are contract staff of Bright Star Limited, the company that deals with the verification of the biometric detail of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LSNC).
“The suspects were arrested by a combined team of FSARS and the police in the Lagos Command.
“They confessed that they had been using three GSM lines to operate; 08162236163, 08084480671 and 07081301881.
“They used these numbers to call innocent civil servants in the Lagos State Government on the guise to assist them, instead they swindle them of their income.
“A search was conducted and the SIM cards of the three GSM lines were recovered. The suspects confessed and owned up to the crime for which they were arrested.
“However, information received from service providers revealed that GSM number 07081301881 was not registered as there was no user contact on it, hence, the fraud syndicate used it to perpetrate fraud,” he said.
The CP said that investigation was ongoing and the suspects will be charged to court as soon as possible.
