According to a report by Nigerian Communications Week, over 100 undergraduates of tertiary institutions across the Southwest of Nigeria have been detained for various cybercrimes by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to The Nation Online, Kazeem Oseni, Commission’s Deputy Zonal Head, Ibadan, who spoke on behalf of Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman, in Ibadan on Monday disclosed that the suspects were arrested for mainly online love scams, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) fraud, and online marketing scams.
Oseni also disclosed that the Ibadan office had recovered around N277.9 million from fraudsters in the past nine months, adding that 50 cases had been instituted against the suspects with 381 others being investigated.
“The commission is attending to 431 cases among which 50 cases are already in court. In the past nine months, we have arrested 195 individuals in connection with bank fraud, internet fraud, land and general disputes. Among the cases in court are the ones involving the Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, that of the Federal University of Technology, Akure and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.”
“The prevailing case in Ibadan is internet frauds involving young people. The Ibadan office has so far recovered N277, 931,341m from various financial criminals while we have also recovered objects like cars used by fraudsters to perpetrate crimes.” He said.
While shedding more light on the number of arrests made by the commission, Mr Ayo Oyewole, the EFCC Head of Public Affairs, Ibadan Zonal Office, explained that undergraduates formed a larger part of those in custody, adding that some hotels were also seized.
“Many cars were recovered from undergraduates who were investigated or being investigated. They deal in fake online marketing, fraudulent online dating scams, ATM fraud and other forms of internet crimes. Over 100 of them have been arrested in the past nine months by the Ibadan office of the EFCC. We have also seized some hotels from fraudsters,” Oyewole concluded.
Edited by Dean Workman
