Police arrest three for cybercrime, uncover over 50, 000 emails, passwords
Nicholas Kalu, Abuja
The Nigeria Police on Thursday arrested one Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere, a graduate of Business Administration from Imo State University who specialises in business email compromise and hacking.
Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, in a statement on Thursday, said a comprehensive forensic analysis revealed that the suspect had over 50,000 email accounts and websites including passwords of various individuals and corporate entities across the world on his laptop.
Chidiebere, a.k.a Ceeceeboss TMT, 32, was one of three suspects arrested by the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja.
The other two are Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a Dozzy, 34, and Onuegwu Ifeanyi a.k.a SSGToolz, 35.
The three suspects, all males, were arrested following an intelligence report received from the INTERPOL Cybercrime Directorate in Singapore on global attacks by Nigerian cyber gangs who engage in mass email phishing campaigns and distribution of malwares aimed at stealing authentication data from browsers and email header, Mba said.
He said Chidiebere recruited Ikechukwu Ohanedozie, a medical student of Imo State University, to profile e-mail accounts to determine the financial strengths of prospective victims.
The police said the third suspect, Onuegwu Ifeanyi, specialized in creating, designing, selling of phishing links and hosting malwares on 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,” Mba said.
He disclosed that the Nigeria Police has unveiled a Cybercrime Reporting Web Portal.
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.
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“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,” the statement read.
Mba said all the suspects will be charged to court at the 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 cyberspace and bringing all cybercriminals to book. He reassures confidentiality of all reports and complaints made to the Police through the cyber portal,” the police spokesman said.
