Two of the suspects involved in the alleged hacking of a bank account and diversion of N523,337,100 were arrested in Jos, Plateau State.
The alleged suspects, Matthew Edet and Emma David, were arrested on May 25, a few weeks after detectives at the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU) commenced investigation into the well-coordinated fraud said to have been executed between April 23 and the early hours of April 25.
It was gathered that N39million of the money was traced to the account of Downstones Nigeria Limited, while a total of N160,287,071.47 has been recovered from different banks.
Sources at the SFU revealed Thursday morning that scientific approaches were deployed in tracking the money and decoding transaction details from various accounts they were diverted to.
The syndicate, according to a statement by the spokesman for SFU, SP Eyitayo Johnson, had moved the cash from a customer’s account into 18 other accounts in the same bank.
They, thereafter, transmitted the amount into 225 accounts scattered in 22 banks and financial institutions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Cash/ATM/POS/Withdrawals and e-transfers.
Johnson said the legal section of the unit has successfully obtained an order of the Federal High Court in Lagos for the Preservation/Forfeiture/Attachment of a net sum of N523,337,100 fraudulently transferred by the fraudsters.
He said the detectives were on the trail of other suspects involved in the fraud, adding that the two arrested would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.
Asked if bankers were involved in the fraud, Johnson said investigations were still on, adding that further details would be revealed at the appropriate time.
