Security agents have called on Nigerians to be wary of fraudsters, who now harvest innocent victims Bank Verification Number (BVN), to create multiple pseudo-accounts to commit frauds.
The fraudsters, who specialises in creating companies and persons accounts using any BVN they lay their hands on, also hacks the people’s phone numbers and duplicate the numbers which they use for fraudulent transactions.
Their lid was blown up recently when they used the BVN of a popular Abuja based media mogul (name withheld for security reasons) to create multiple accounts, where they were carrying out their criminal activities unknown to the victim.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, the victim said when a Post No Debit was put on the account with one of the commercial banks, she went to her bank to complain only for her to be arrested by the Nigeria Police Force Financial Crime Unit.
The victims said due to her personality, the police officers calmly explained to her that her BVN was linked to multiple accounts bearing her identity including her picture and these accounts have been used to commit crimes across the country.
She also discovered that none of the fraudulent accounts were linked to her phone number as the fraudsters allegedly connived with some bankers to attach different phone numbers to the account and get alerts on those accounts while she only received alerts on her personal account.
Up until this moment, she has been unable to retrieve her personal account and cannot access money there as the police said they are still investigating.
Speaking on the development, one of the officers’ who has handled such case before, simply identified as ASP Ameh, called on Nigerians to be watchful, stating that this was a new dimension to the usual BVN related fraud as the normal crime was to hack into victims’ accounts using BVN linked number and steal from the account.
He said just last month, the Zone 2 Police Command in Lagos State confirmed the arrest of two members of a syndicate linked to the hacking of no fewer than 1000 bank accounts in Nigeria.
The spokesperson for the command, SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu said the suspects, who specialised in hacking local banks, were nabbed at their hideout in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, following a petition by the United Bank for Africa.
Idris-Adamu identified the suspects as Yusuf Ademola, 40, and Adesina Abiodun, 50, adding that efforts were on to arrest other accomplices linked to the crime.
She said: “The suspects confessed to the crime that they have many syndicates all over Nigeria and that they use software to hack into customers’ accounts and move their money undetected from any bank they wish. However, the modus operandi of these fraudsters is to have a customer’s BVN linked phone number and bank alert for easy transfer of the money.
“Over 1000 customers’ accounts have been hacked and defrauded across the country,” she said.
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