Matilda Omonaiye/
More than 50,000 e-mail accounts were found to have been hacked by a Nigerian university student after a cybercrime gang was busted by the police.
According to police authorities, three university students have been held for e-mail phishing and other related offences after a joint operation with the INTERPOL.
Police spokesman, Frank Mba, announced that the Nigeria Police Force has opened a Cybercrime Reporting Web Portal to attend to victims of such crimes.
He told NewsmakersNG in a statement: “The portal which can be accessed by clicking on the link https://incb.police.gov.ng/is part of efforts directed at ensuring ease of crime reportage by members of the public to enable prompt investigation, arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of cybercrime and other related offences.
“The portal caters for complaints pertaining to cybercrimes. With this, victims/complainants can now report cases of cybercrime online, at any time and from any part of the world. The cases are promptly attended to by the Cybercrime Unit of the Force domiciled with the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Force Headquarters, Abuja and the newly created Cybercrime Unit at the INTERPOL Annex, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos. The new portal will provide updates on achievements being recorded by the Nigeria Police and will, among other things, avail the citizens’ knowledge of basic cyber-related issues such as emerging cybercrime trends, the modus operandi of the cyber crooks and offer tips on how citizens could make themselves less vulnerable within the cyberspace.
“The Force urges potential users of the portal to ensure that only correct and accurate information, devoid of deliberate falsehood, misrepresentation and misinformation, are provided when filing their complaints.
“Meanwhile, three suspects, namely Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere a.k.a Ceeceeboss TMT 32yrs ‘m’ currently residing at Lekki, Lagos State, a native of Aro-Ikpa in Abia State, Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a Dozzy 34yrs ‘m’ and Onuegwu Ifeanyi a.k.a SSGToolz 35yrs ‘m’ of Prof’s Avenue, Umudagu, Mbieri, Mba-Itolu LGA, Imo State have been arrested by the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja.
“The three suspects were arrested following intelligence report received from INTERPOL Cybercrime Directorate in Singapore on global attacks by Nigerian cyber gangs who engage in mass email phishing campaigns and distribution of malware aimed at stealing authentication data from browsers and email headers.
“Findings so far reveal that of the three suspects, Onuegwu Ifeanyi a.k.a SSGToolz specializes in creating, designing, selling of phishing links and hosting malware on the website used by the gang for phishing and hacking purposes. He collects charges running into several millions of naira from other fraudsters he mentors and improves their phishing capabilities.
“Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere a.k.a Ceeceeboss TMT, a graduate of Business Administration from Imo State University specialises in business email compromise and hacking. Comprehensive forensic analysis reveals that he had in his laptop-computer over 50,000 email accounts and websites including passwords of various individuals and corporate entities across the world. He recruited the third suspect Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a Dozzy, a medical student of Imo State University, into the gang. Ikechukwu Ohanedozie sorts and profiles e-mail accounts to determine the financial strengths of prospective victims and pass on information obtained therefrom to Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere. All the suspects will be charged to court on conclusion of the investigation and prosecuted in line with the Cybercrime Prevention/Prohibition Act, 2015.
“Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, IGP M. A Adamu, NPM mni reaffirms the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force in protecting the cyberspace and bringing all cybercriminals to book. He reassures the confidentiality of all reports and complaints made to the Police through the cyber portal.”
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