Fraudsters Target Awujale …Adesina Too

Nigerian fraudsters are known to respect no one.

They swindle the mighty, as well as the lowly; always looking for a soft target.

But that was not what they got, when they hacked into the Diamond Bank account of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, and neatly stole N7million.

They also went after N5million in the Diamond Bank account of the Managing Director of The Sun Newspaper and President, Editors Guild, Mr Femi Adesina.

Unlike the move against Adesina that was nipped in the bud, the crooks almost got away with Awujale’s money.

The monarch, however, refused to let go. He threatened the Bank with lawsuit and the police were brought in.

Like one Yoruba adage would ask: “Where will the thief that steals the King’s trumpet blow it? The fraudsters’ biggest challenge was getting the money out with someone posing as the Awujale after hacking into the account.

Detectives found that the fraudsters had to connive with insiders, who allegedly assisted in transferring the money from Awujale’s account to the Access Bank account of a female member of the syndicate in Ajah.

The woman, identified as a sacked staff of ECOBANK, operates the account in the name of her sand haulage company known as Jopic Collections.

The theft could have gone undetected, but alarm bells started ringing when Awujale received an alert that he had withdrawn N7million.

According to sources, the Awujale has a bureau de change called Monarch Bureau de Change, Ijebu-Ode branch. It has a corporate account with Diamond Bank.

The money was moved from the account.

Police found that the syndicate was being coordinated by a staff of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), identified as Trust Osunde.

They copied the account number and made ID card using Awujale’s picture.

One of the suspects in Delta State sent e-mail in the name of Awujale to Diamond Bank and the bank acted on it by sending money to the woman’s account at Access Bank.

But Awujale’s quick move threw a spanner in the works.

The woman whose account was used went to Access Bank, Ajah branch. She didn’t know that the police were monitoring transactions on the account. She filled a teller, and was waiting for payment, when the police came in and told her the game was up.

The police have also held another member of the syndicate identified as Sunday Osaremen. And the arrested suspects have been charged to court.

Senior security strategists told Chief Detective that recent months have seen significant innovation by cybercriminals in performing banking fraud. And a combination of new tools and tactics has challenged traditional fraud controls.

According to the experts, cybercriminals now use RATs (Remote Access Trojans) in performing banking fraud.

Once the details of an account are compromised, cybercriminals can easily use stolen data to gain access to victims’ accounts.

Those who tried to steal N5million from Adesina’s account cloned his cheque and signature, and gave instruction to the bank on The Sun Newspaper’s letterhead saying: “Please transfer…”

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