Four Nigerians studying in the Philippine who were arrested over their alleged involvement in an international syndicate that hacks and siphons funds from banks in the country have denied the allegations levied against them.
WITHIN NIGERIA learnt that the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Tuesday arrested 4 Nigerian nationals in Muntinlupa City of the country for their alleged involvement in an international syndicate that specialises in compromising bank systems.
Trouble started for the Nigerians after the suspected fraudsters’ transactions were traced when they hacked a system of one Philippine bank, where at least P100 million were transferred and funneled into a different account.
A statement released by Vic Lorenzo, the Cybercrime Division chief of the National Bureau of Investigation, claims the Nigerians have violated the Access Device Law, Anti-Cybercrime law, and falsification of public documents. It however did not give the names of the accused Nigerians.
“The international syndicate is complicated.. to the point that they study the system’s flaws. Once they see a weakness, they will take advantage of that.
“One of the suspects’ Filipina girlfriend admitted to having used her account to deposit and withdraw money amounting to at least P2 million, which was supposedly for tuition.
“Blank ATM cards and bank receipts were confiscated from the suspects.” the NIBS chief disclosed.
The accused Nigerians have denied the allegations. In a chat with ABS CBN, the Nigerians said they were in the country to study and knew nothing about the hacking incident.
“The funds withdrawn were donations from a Nigerian student community,” one of them said.