INTERPOL Arrests Nigerian ‘Cyber Gang’ Responsible For Global Attacks

The Nigeria Police, on Thursday, said they have arrested three members of a cybercrime syndicate allegedly responsible for global attacks on internet users.

The police said the suspects specialized in stealing authentication data from browsers and emails of internet users via “mass email phishing campaigns and distribution of malwares.”

Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, in a statement on Thursday, said the suspects were arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja, following intelligence report from the INTERPOL Cybercrime Directorate in Singapore.

Mba identified the suspects as, “Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere a.k.a Ceeceeboss TMT 32yrs ‘m’ currently residing at Lekki, Lagos State, native of Aro-Ikpa in Abia State, Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a Dozzy 34yrs ‘m’ and Onuegwu Ifeanyi a.k.a SSGToolz 35yrs ‘m’ of Prof’s Avenue, Umudagu, Mbieri, Mba-itolu LGA, Imo State.”

According to the Force PRO, Ifeanyi specialized in, “creating, designing, selling of phishing links and hosting malwares on website used by the gang for phishing and hacking purposes. He collects charges running into several millions of naira from other fraudsters he mentors and improves their phishing capabilities.

He added that, “Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere a.k.a Ceeceeboss TMT, a graduate of Business Administration from Imo State University specialises in business email compromise and hacking. A comprehensive forensic analysis reveals that he had in his laptop-computer over 50,000 email accounts and websites including passwords of various individuals and corporate entities across the world. He recruited the third suspect Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a Dozzy, a medical student of Imo State University, into the gang. Ikechukwu Ohanedozie sorts and profiles e-mail accounts to determine financial strengths of prospective victims and passes on information obtained therefrom to Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere. All the suspects will be charged to court on conclusion of investigation and prosecuted in line with the Cybercrime Prevention/Prohibition Act, 2015.”

Mba further revealed that the Police Force had launched a portal available to the general public for reporting cyber-related crimes.

“The portal which can be accessed by clicking on the link https://incb.police.gov.ng/ is part of efforts directed at ensuring ease of crime reportage by members of the public to enable prompt investigation, arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of cybercrime and other related offences,” said the Force PRO.

Mba said the portal would avail the public knowledge of basic cyber-related issues such as, “emerging cybercrime trends, the modus operandi of the cyber crooks and offer tips on how citizens could make themselves less vulnerable within the cyberspace.”