Pat Stephen/
A man who claimed to have been a medical doctor with Eko Hospital was today unmasked by the Police in Lagos as the brain behind a series of hacking into bank accounts, including that of Hollywood star, John Travolta.
Twenty-eight-year-old Dr Michael Thompson Williams told reporters at a police parade today how he expertly deployed modern technology to steal from bank accounts or intercept transactions.
He made so much money and bought himself a Porsche car for N28million, says the police.
Lagos State commissioner of police (CP) Imohimi Edgal, accused Williams of hacking into bank accounts and stealing over N100million.
According to Edgal, Williams used “http tunnel.com to generate a fake bank credit of N28million into the account of a car owner, Abidogun Adewale on March 23″.
He said, “On March 23rd 2018, my office received a complaint that there exists a syndicate that goes to car shops, buys a car, configures a computer programme that would send a fake payment alert to the seller and by so doing, obtains a car under false pretenses. Such was the case of one Abidogun Adewale whose car shop played host to the leader of this syndicate by name Michael Thompson Williams who bought a Porsche car at a price of N28,000,000. He, thereafter, requested for the seller’s bank account number and made it look like he had paid him via the fake account.”
Edgal added that investigation revealed that the suspect also had software that could shutdown Close Circuit Television (CCTV) of any establishment for 67 minutes for him to commit crime.
He said: “The suspect requested for the seller’s bank account number and made it look like he had paid him through 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. Based on the complaint, a manhunt was launched on the fleeing suspect and he was arrested in Lekki.
“During interrogation, he confessed to have committed the crime. He also.led detectives to Asaba, Delta State, where the stolen Porsche car was recovered.
“He also led detectives to Owerri, Imo State, where two Toyota Camry Saloon cars he stole in similar manner were recovered.
“The suspect has a good mastery of cyber environment and he creates a credit card through Cyber Ghost 12. When the credit card matures, it is then funded through a hacked Swiss account. He manipulates any transaction anyone is doing through Swiss account and wires the fund to his contrived credit card.
“This is possible with the aid of Cyber Ghost 12, a virtual private network. He further stated that through the credit card, he bought software he needed to work and protect his job to avoid being traced. Such software are known as VPN and word cyber protector e.g daredevil. It also enables them to do deductions and transactions per dollar from every domiciliary account.”
Williams, who was shielded from being photographed by the police, told reporters that he had broken into 360 codes.
He added that he usually hacked the credit cards of Hollywood actor, John Travolta and other celebrities.
The suspect, who identified himself as a trained medical doctor, allegedly worked with Tolu and Eko Hospitals before relocating to Canada, where he acquired hacking skills.
He said: “In Canada, the building I was staying was filled up. 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. It is about software made easy online. When you are a hacker, everything online is easy. You monitor your mails particularly the ones with transactions on Swiss account.
“You monitor anyone with transaction from one million dollars to a billion dollars and then divert it online and then secure your security. You then fund it on your credit card and use it to buy any software or anything you want online.
“I hack the Swiss accounts of celebrities because they are the ones who usually have such money. One of my victims is John Travolta, he does transactions every week. I hacked into his Swiss account with 360 codes.
“Banks in Nigeria are not like those abroad. They do not have professional hackers working for them. They are not secured and very easy for any hacker to break in. When you are a hacker, you are a bank to yourself and you do not need any bank accounts.”
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