EFCC Arrests 3 Nigerian Suspected Cyber Criminals In Joint Operation With INTERPOL

Three Nigerians have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an Operation involving the INTERPOL.

They are suspected to be part of a cyber crime Nigerian syndicate operating across the West Coast of Africa.

They specialized in the use of a malicious Remote Access Trojan (RAT) known as Agent Tesla, to perpetrate their crimes.

The three men, aged between 31 and 38, were each arrested in possession of fake documents, including fraudulent invoices and forged official letters.

A Facebook post by the EFCC said the suspects were arrested in a sting operation conducted simultaneously in Ajegunle, Lagos State and in Benin, Edo State.

One of the arrested scammers, Hendrix Omorume, is said to have been charged with three counts of serious financial fraud.

He was convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment while the remaining two are still under investigation.

The INTERPOL assisted in examining the laptops and mobile phones seized by EFCC during the arrests to confirm evidence of the systematic use of “Agent Tesla” malware to access business computers and divert monetary transactions to their own accounts.

The suspects are thought to have used the RAT to reroute financial transactions, stealing confidential online connection details from corporate organizations.

Such corporate organisations are said to include oil and gas companies in South East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

The Nigerian sting operation comes as part of a global operation codenamed “Killer Bee” involving INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) and law enforcement agencies in 11 countries across Southeast Asia. 

According to Abdulkarim Chukkol, the Director Of Operations, EFCC,
“Cybercrime is spreading at a fast pace, with new trends constantly emerging. Through operations like Killer Bee, INTERPOL partners EFCC to keep pace with new technologies and understand the possibilities they create for criminals and how they can be used as tools for fighting cybercrime.”

He added that; “The enforcement actions led by Nigeria and coordinated by INTERPOL send a clear message that cybercrime will have serious repercussions for those involved in business email compromise fraud, particularly in Nigeria.”

Operation Killer Bee is led by the ASEAN Cybercrime Operations Desk, which is funded by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) 2.0 and supported by the Singapore Government.

The operational partners included Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The INTERPOL’s Director of Cybercrime Craig Jones said:
“Through its global police network and constant monitoring of cyberspace, INTERPOL had the globally sourced intelligence needed to alert Nigeria to a serious security threat where millions could have been lost without swift police action,” 

He added that; “Further arrests and prosecutions are foreseen across the world as intelligence continues to come in and investigations unfold.”