The Nigeria Police Force, through the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU), has uncovered a major fraud syndicate accused of diverting more than ₦713.9 million from customers’ bank accounts, leading to the arrest of two suspects.
Force Public Relations Officer, DSP Anthony Placid, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, explaining that the investigation began after a Nigerian financial institution reported several unauthorised withdrawals linked to security breaches on a third-party platform.
According to the police, operatives of the PSFU employed advanced digital forensic and investigative techniques, which uncovered that at least 15 customer accounts had been compromised. The stolen funds were allegedly moved through multiple accounts in a coordinated money laundering scheme.
The investigation led to the arrest of Oguntoyinbo Olawale and Kazeem Omokayode.
Police further revealed that the suspects allegedly worked with a Chinese national identified only as Linda, who is currently on the run. The syndicate reportedly used stolen personal details, including Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), National Identification Numbers (NIN), and other credentials, to open several bank accounts across different financial institutions.
Authorities said the accounts were then used to receive and conceal illicit funds obtained from the fraudulent transactions.
The suspects are currently in police custody and will be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigations. Efforts are also ongoing to track down other members of the syndicate still at large.
Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, commended officers of the Police Special Fraud Unit for cracking the case and reaffirmed the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to tackling financial and cyber-related crimes across the country.
