Cyber hacker defrauds car dealer of N28m, says Nigerian banks not secure

He was said to have paid the sum for a Porsche car through a fake electronic transfer. The suspect, who was arrested in the Lekki area of Lagos, was paraded at the command headquarters, Ikeja, on Monday by the state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi.

Imohimi said the police received a petition against the suspect, who he described as a “professional hacker.”

He said, “My office received a complaint that there is a syndicate that buys exotic cars and configures a computer programme that sends a fake payment alert to the seller.

“The seller, upon receiving this alert, verifies the alert either through ATM or through Internet banking and then releases the car to the syndicate.

“In this case, when the car dealer went to his bank for his statement of account, it was discovered that the alert and transfer of N28m to his account was only a fake electronic transfer; the money did not register in his account.

“The modus operandi of this suspect is very interesting because he seems to have a very good mastery of the cyber environment. He also creates a credit card through software known as cyber-ghost 12. When the credit card matures, it is then funded through a hacked Swiss account. Any transaction anybody is doing through this Swiss account, the suspect manipulates it and wires the fund into his contrived credit card.

“The interesting part of this report is that the hacker has the ability to shut down the CCTV system of any organisation here in Nigeria for a period of 67 minutes. That is a window period during which any crime can be committed.”

Imohimi said the case was of importance to financial institutions, adding that Nigerian banks should employ certified hackers to secure their systems from hackers.

He added that further interrogation of the suspect would continue to get information of crimes he could commit through the Internet.

The former medical doctor was also said to have led detectives to Asaba, Delta State, and Owerri, Imo State, where two Camry cars he bought in a similar fashion, were recovered.

The suspect said he was eased out of the medical profession after he discovered a faster way of conducting Caesarean Section.

He said, “I have worked in three Lagos hospitals. The issue with Nigeria is that when they see that you are better, they look for a way to ease you out. After I was sent out, I secured a visa to Canada, where I acquired hacking expertise.”

He said his mode of operation involved, “creating a credit card or getting old credit cards online and funding them after monitoring transactions of Swiss code accounts of anybody making $1m or above $200m transaction.

He said, “I monitor movie actors and actresses in the US. I monitor a particular actor, who is based in America (US). He transfers money every week. I hacked into his Swiss code account, which involved breaking of 360 codes.

“I divert funds online into a secured credit card which I use to buy any kind of powerful software online and get more knowledge online.”

Williams said he had access to customers’ bank accounts and used their money for spending sprees with his credit cards.

He also said as a hacker, he could do anything online, adding that he bought goods worth not more than N30m with credit cards and made false payments in bits to unsuspecting victims.

The suspect said, “Banks in Nigeria are not like banks abroad.

“In Nigeria, you can sit down and do any kind of transfer. There are no certified hackers in banks here; there is nobody to secure you.”