The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) has dismantled a telecommunications fraud syndicate that allegedly compromised a leading telecom company’s billing infrastructure and fraudulently generated data valued at over N7.7 billion.

The police said they have arrested six suspects and recovered some assets, including nearly N90 million cash, two residential houses in Kano State, a mini-plaza and a Toyota RAV4 vehicle believed to have been aacquired with proceeds of the crime.

The NPF also said its investigation followed a petition it got from the affected telecom firm over the unauthorised use of staff login credentials and the compromise of its network systems.

The investigators said the syndicate infiltrated the company’s billing infrastructure between October 1 and November 28, 2024, fraudulently generating airtime that was converted into data bundles and distributed through a network of vendors nationwide.

The breach reportedly caused losses running into billions of naira before the telecom provider detected it and alerted security agencies.

The company subsequently reversed approximately 2,931.79 terabytes of fraudulently acquired data valued at about N3.8 billion.

The NPF-NCCC spokesman, Unwana Imah, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said in a statement yesterday that preliminary investigations revealed that the syndicate operated a sophisticated network involving both insiders and external collaborators.

The first phase of the operation led to the recovery of more than 400 laptops, 1,000 mobile phones, Point-of-Sale (POS) machines, cash exhibits, and other incriminating materials.

A second wave of coordinated operations in May, spanning Kano, Katsina, and Zamfara states, led to the arrest of key suspects: Musa Muhammed Kwandi, Nura Sadauki and Aminu Muhammed.

Others arrested include Musa Hassan Mohammed, an Information Technology specialist, Samson Alisigwe, and Yusuf Shehu.

The NPF-NCCC said investigations were ongoing to identify additional syndicate members, recover more assets and ensure prosecution of all those involved.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Olatunji Disu urged members of the public with information on cyber-related crimes to report through the NPF-NCCC e-reporting portal and other official channels.

Source: The Nation News