(A) Arrest/Prosecution of MAPOLY Undergraduate and Edo State Private School Proprietor for Cyberfraud, Money Laundering, Fraudulent Conversion and Stealing of Airtime worth One Billion, Two Hundred and Twenty-Seven Million, One Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N1,227,140,000.00).

Detectives of the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) Lagos; have arrested a 32-year-old undergraduate of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, Ogun State, named Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola and one of his co-conspirators, the Proprietor of Resign Regal Academy, Benin City, Edo State, named Anthony Imonina Odemerho; for alleged offences bordering on Cyberfraud, Money Laundering, Fraudulent Conversion and Stealing of airtime valued at One Billion, Two Hundred and Twenty-Seven Million, One Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N1,227,140,000.00).

The arrests is further to a petition to the Police by one of the GSM Operators in Nigeria following an Audit Report which showed discrepancies between Revenue Collection Accounts and Fulfilments.

Investigation revealed that between February and March 2024, Timothy Fashina, working in conjunction with yet to be identified 3rd-Party Web/Application Developers of the GSM Company, who used Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt their data and to masked their IP addresses; compromised the Network of the GSM provider by utilizing authorization keys to gain entry into the Application Programme Interface (API) of the firm.

The functionalities of the API were manipulated by Timothy Fashina to repeatedly replicate One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000.00) airtime ticket genuinely bought on the network to obtain series of multiple airtime fulfilments to the tune of One Billion, Two Hundred and Twenty-Seven Million, One Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N1,227,140,000.00) unto GSM numbers 08XXXXXX72, 08XXXXXX14 and 07XXXXXX28.

Afterwards, Anthony Imonina, based in Benin City, Edo State, downloaded the Mobile App of the GSM provider from Playstore and signed in with the Phone Number of Timothy Fashina. To proceed to the dashboard of the App, Anthony Imonina needs an OTP from the GSM Provider which the network automatically sent as SMS to the phone housing/hosting the sim card as at the material time of attempt to log into the App. It is at this juncture that Anthony Imonina contacted Timothy Fashina who promptly provided the OTP before the request timed-out. Imonina imputed the OTP and is allowed entry into the GSM Mobile App of Timothy Fashina. Having gained access to the App and its features, Anthony Imonina proceeded to convert the fraudulently obtained airtime to data (using “airtime-to-airtime” options of the App) and shared/sold same (using “share-data” option of the App) to fifty-two (52) innocent subscribers which included individuals and companies.

The sum of One Billion, Three Hundred and Fourteen Million, Six Hundred and Forty-Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five Naira (N1,314,644,835), being payments received for the sold data was traced to the bank accounts of Anthony Imonina who forwarded One Billion, Two Hundred and Twenty Million, One Hundred and Forty-Seven Thousand Naira (N1,220,147,000.00) to Timothy Fashina, having deducted his commission of Eighty-Seven Million, Four Hundred and Ninety-Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred and Thirty-Five Naira (N87,497,835.00).

Proceeds of the fraud includes 110 hectares of farmland at Iseyin, Oyo State (N40,000,000.00), uncompleted building at Oluwo, Abeokuta, Ogun State (N6,000,000.00), 2-storey warehouse at Okeyeke, Abeokuta, Ogun State (value yet to be determined), Inventory of Stocks in warehouse (N50,000,000.00), Towing/Truck Head (N24,000,000.00), crypto wallet (21,000 USDT), gift to friends (N16,000,000.00), 2 Hiace Buses, Toyota Sienna and a Volkswagen Bus.

The Legal Section of the Unit has filed criminal charges against the suspects at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi – Lagos.
Effort is being intensified to apprehend the 3rd-party Developers who are members of the syndicate and to identify other assets acquired with the proceeds of fraud.

(B) Arrest of Banker for Fraudulent Conversion and Stealing of Thirty-Five Million Naira (N35,000,000.00)

The Legal Section of Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), Lagos, has filed a 4-count charge before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi – Lagos; against one Ebele Bernardine Okpala, an ex-staff of Keystone Bank Limited (KBL).

Mrs. Ebele Bernardine Okpala was arrested by the Unit for alleged offences of Fraudulent Conversion and Stealing of Thirty-Five Million Naira (N35,000,000.00) being the credit facility she obtained in July 2023 from a Financial Services firm as Prove-of-Funds to facilitate approval of Canadian Visa for her daughter.

The money was deposited in the suspect’s account domiciled in Keystone Bank Limited and secured by a Post-No-Debit (PND) placed by KBL at the behest of the financial company; to preserve the funds.

However, the suspect, working in connivance with one of her colleagues at the bank, who was a Service Manager, circumvented procedures/processes emplaced by KBL and lifted the PND without authorization; to enable Ebele Okpala to transfer the money out to settle personal needs. After the act, on the 6th of September 2023, she absconded from her duties at the bank till date.

However, Detectives tracked her to Delta State and she was arrested on 4th July, 2024.

E-SIGNED

SP. EYITAYO JOHNSON
POLICE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FOR: COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
POLICE SPECIAL FRAUD UNIT
IKOYI – LAGOS.