Tokunbo Afikuyomi, a former senator, has narrated how fraudsters hacked his phone and deceived his friends to transfer millions of naira to them.

The former senator said the scammers on Saturday morning “temporarily seized control” of his WhatsApp, a messaging application.

Afikuyomi, in a statement on Sunday, said the hackers sent fraudulent messages to his friends demanding money on his behalf.

The former senator said some of his friends called him via the telephone to confirm the fraudulent request while others “innocently sent” millions of naira to the accounts provided by the scammers.

“I immediately complained to the relevant security and regulatory agencies and I thank the anti-fraud unit of the police for springing into action immediately,” the former senator said.

“Their efforts led to identifying some of the account numbers and the details of the respective owners through which the scammers collected various sums of money.

“The security agents are also already deploying technology to geo-locate the perpetrators. Investigations by relevant agencies are still ongoing.”

Afikuyomi said he had suspended the use of his WhatsApp phone number until after the completion of the investigation.

“I must at this stage express my dismay with the lack of due diligence in the bank account opening and maintenance system in our country,” he said.

“This is what has come out so far in the investigation of this phone hacking scam.

“The scammers opened so many bank accounts without supplying the banks with the necessary security checks and details required by the law.

“In the same manner, it is now obvious that some of the Over the Top Media Services (OTT) providers do not fully comply with the provision of Nigeria’s Data Privacy and Protection Laws.”

The former senator advised Nigerians to be more careful while responding to messages from acquaintances.

matify83:
Even with two step verification done, some of my colleagues have lost control of their whatsapp handle for days before taking back control and the scammers always use this same modus operandi of soliciting for money.

I often wonder why i will just transfer funds to my friend based on a text message without hearing from him.

PoliteActivist:
*Politeness*
Very unlikely anybody would send "millions" tho.
Let's keep the exaggerations a bit believable

zegeijuwa:
Because you lacked very basic security measures. You gave out the OTP for your whatsapp after been social engineered. Check your sms you'd see the OTP and figure out when and how you gave it out. No magic here.

PoliteActivist:
*Politeness*
Very unlikely anybody would send "millions" tho.
Let's keep the exaggerations a bit believable

zegeijuwa:
Because you lacked very basic security measures. You gave out the OTP for your whatsapp after been social engineered. Check your sms you'd see the OTP and figure out when and how you gave it out. No magic here.

ezebunafo:
they cloned the WhatsApp number,so otp's will be sent also to the cloned number

Deemas:


Very possible my dear. I was chatting with a scammer who hacked a church member's WhatsApp account without knowing. This man is a highly placed officer of the NPF. The scammer said I should loan him 1.5m and that he wants to quickly sort out something and refund in 5 days. It was when I called I got to know his WhatsApp account was hacked.

AlphaNugget:
Your circle determines your alert during your time of need. Don't underrate rich men.

PoliteActivist:




*Politeness*
Oh, I know they can request it, but even Tinubu won't transfer 1.5m just like that. Infact most banks and apps have maximum of 1m or less

zegeijuwa:
Because you lacked very basic security measures. You gave out the OTP for your whatsapp after been social engineered. Check your sms you'd see the OTP and figure out when and how you gave it out. No magic here.

ezebunafo:
they cloned the WhatsApp number,so otp's will be sent also to the cloned number

Femisol:
Two factor authentication is very important.

What a big lesson

PoliteActivist:
*Politeness*
Very unlikely anybody would send "millions" tho.
Let's keep the exaggerations a bit believable

PoliteActivist:
*Politeness*
Very unlikely anybody would send "millions" tho.
Let's keep the exaggerations a bit believable

zegeijuwa:
Because you lacked very basic security measures. You gave out the OTP for your whatsapp after been social engineered. Check your sms you'd see the OTP and figure out when and how you gave it out. No magic here.

zegeijuwa:


impossible to clone a whatsapp number. Unless they swapped his simcard of which he would have lost signal.

Whatsapp generates OTP using device ID and mobile number and OTPs are have a validity period.

He gave out the out unknowingly or entered it on a phising link that dsiplayed it in plaintext to the attacker.

symbianDON:
not true Sir. You can still get hacked without a link or sending any OTP!

PoliteActivist:
*Politeness*
Very unlikely anybody would send "millions" tho.
Let's keep the exaggerations a bit believable