Lekki now hubs for cyber crime

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As EFCC Arrest 402 suspects in three months...

As confirmed by the Commission spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren between April and June 2021, the Advance Fee Fraud and Cyber Crime Sections of the Command recorded a total of 402 internet-related fraud arrests, while the Advance Fee Fraud Section was responsible for 243 arrests, the Cyber Crime Section executed 18 sting operations which resulted in 159 arrests, from which 13 convictions have so far been recorded.

Of the 159 suspects arrested by the Cyber Crime Section, according to Uwujaren, 70 are from Lekki, comprising communities such as Ajah, Badore, Victoria Garden City, Sangotedo and Oniru.

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Ajah, he said accounted for 24 suspects, while Oniru and Sangotedo had 14 and 13 suspects respectively.

“Badore had 8 suspects. Neighbouring Ikoyi and Eko Atlantic had 2 and one suspects each. Ikorodu and Alagbado on the Lagos Mainland make up the remainder”, he said.

The suspects, as discovered are mostly millennials, with 82 of them aged between 25 and 34 years, which speaks to the fact that most of the individuals arrested are either still in school, recent graduates or university dropouts.

Analysis of the data from the Cyber Crime Section further shows that the dominant form of internet crime is Dating Scam/Online Dating Scam/Romance Scam. Sixty Four per cent (64%) of individuals arrested are involved in romance scams, followed closely by “Middle Man Scam” and “Picking” which account for 8% and 7% respectively of those arrested.

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The 64% involved in the dating scam benefitted to the tune of N8, 310,000; USD 349,290;£ 900; €10 and Cryptocurrency ‪0.17513‬.

Other typologies of fraud identified include forgery, possession of fraudulent documents, spamming, credit card fraud, impersonation, rental scam, loan fraud, Business Email Compromise, Hacking, stealing, cheque scam, phishing, and money laundering.

The data also reveals gift cards, at 39%, as the prevalent method employed by the suspects to access their illicit funds. It is followed by bank transfers at 27% and Cryptocurrency at 21%.

A total of $12,512.49USD was recovered from the e-wallet accounts of four suspects within the period.

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