They are not Hushpuppi or Woodberry. They are not even popular Yahoo Boys but they succeeded at ‘scamming’ a German firm of over 14 milion Euros
Currently under arrest, the Nigerian Police on Sunday said it has arrested two suspects for allegedly defrauding a German Company of 14.7 million Euros in pretext to procure COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment, PPE.
The force spokesman, Frank Mba, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.
He said the suspects were arrested by the Cybercrime Unit of the Force INTERPOL National Central Bureau, Abuja.
Mr Mba said one of the suspects, 50, was a Master Degree holder
in Cell Biology, while the second suspect, 41, is the Managing Director of
Musterpoint Investment Nig. Ltd.
He said the duo were members of a sophisticated transnational criminal network
that cloned the corporate website of ILBN Holdings BV, Holland to defraud one
Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn.
The FPRO said Hahn is a representative of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
He said the arrest of the suspects was sequel to a Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty, MLAT, received by the Bureau from the office of the Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
Mr Mba said the MLAT was a request from the German Government for
investigations into a fraudulent transaction on the procurement of COVID-19 PPE
linked to a Nigerian based bank account.
“Discrete investigations by INTERPOL Nigeria revealed that the
suspects and their Holland-based cohorts, specialized in identity theft,
cyber-stalking, cloning of corporate websites amongst other cyber mischiefs to
defraud unsuspecting members of the public across the world.
“In this instance, the suspects fraudulently obtained from the victim, the sum
of 1.5m Euro and another 880,000 Euro as advanced payment for the supply of
COVID-19 PPEs valued at 14.7million Euros.
“Disturbed by the non-arrival of the PPEs, the victim visited the corporate office of ILBN Holdings BV in Holland to inquire reasons for the delay in supplying the items.
“That was when we found out that the company never did business
with him and that the transaction was a scam,” he said.
Mr Mba said the fraudsters merely cloned the company’s website and falsely
presented themselves as representatives of the company before executing the
fraudulent transaction.
He said it was on this ground that the victim reported to the Police in Holland
and this led to the arrest of two suspects in Holland and investigations
extended to Nigeria.
According to him, investigation by INTERPOL Nigeria further
revealed that one of the suspects received 498,000 Euro from the suspects
arrested in Holland through his Citibank London account.
He said same was transferred to an account number domiciled with a Lagos branch
of a leading commercial bank in Nigeria belonging to Musterpoint Investment
Nig. Ltd.
Mr Mba said the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, commended the
Commissioner of Police, INTERPOL, Garba Umar, and operatives of INTERPOL
Nigeria, Cybercrime Unit for a job well done.
He said the I-G pledged the commitment of the Police to tackle cybercrimes and other transnational crimes, adding that there would be no hiding place for internet fraudsters in the country.
Mr Mba said the suspects would be arraigned before a competent court of law upon completion of investigations.
NAN