The head of an international criminal network behind thousands of online frauds has been arrested in a joint operation by INTERPOL and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC).
The 40-year-old Nigerian national,
known as ‘Mike’, is believed to be
behind scams totaling more than USD
60 million involving hundreds of
victims worldwide. In one case, a
target was conned into paying out
USD 15.4 million.
The network compromised email
accounts of small- to medium-sized
businesses around the world,
including in Australia, Canada, India,
Malaysia, Romania, South Africa,
Thailand and the US, with the financial
victims mainly other companies
dealing with these compromised
accounts.
Heading a network of at least 40
individuals across Nigeria, Malaysia
and South Africa which both provided
malware and carried out the frauds,
the alleged mastermind also had
money laundering contacts in China,
Europe and the US who provided bank
account details for the illicit cash
flow.
Following his arrest in Port Harcourt
in southern Nigeria, a forensic
examination of devices seized by the
EFCC showed he had been involved in
a range of criminal activities including
business e-mail compromise (BEC) and
romance scams.
The main two types of scams run by
the 40-year-old that targeted
businesses were payment diversion
fraud – where a supplier’s email
would be compromised and fake
messages would then be sent to the
buyer with instructions for payment
to a bank account under the
criminal’s control – and ‘CEO
fraud’.
In CEO fraud, the email account of a
high-level executive is compromised
and a request for a wire transfer is
sent to another employee who has
been identified as responsible for
handling these requests. The money is
then paid into a designated bank
account held by the criminal.
'Mike' first came onto the law
enforcement radar through a report
provided to INTERPOL by Trend Micro,
one of its strategic partners at the
INTERPOL Global Complex for
Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore. This,
combined with actionable analysis and
intelligence from Fortinet Fortiguard
Labs in 2015, enabled specialists at
the INTERPOL Digital Crime Centre,
including experts from Cyber Defense
Institute based at the IGCI, and the
EFCC to locate the suspect in Nigeria,
resulting in his arrest in June.
Abdul Chukkol, Head of the EFCC’s
Cybercrime Section said the
transnational nature of business e-
mail compromise makes it complex to
crack, but the arrest sent a clear
signal that Nigeria could not be
considered a safe haven for criminals.
“For a long time we have said in
order to be effective, the fight
against cybercrime must rely on
public-private partnerships and
international cooperation,” said
Mr. Chukkol.
“The success of this operation is the
result of close cooperation between
INTERPOL and the EFCC, whose
understanding of the Nigerian
environment made it possible to
disrupt the criminal organization’s
network traversing many countries,
targeting individuals and
companies,” added Mr. Chukkol.
Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director
of the IGCI warned that BEC poses a
significant and growing threat, with
tens of thousands of companies
victimized in recent years.
“The public, and especially
businesses, need to be alert to this
type of cyber-enabled fraud,” said
Mr. Nakatani.
“Basic security protocols such as
two-factor authentication and
verification by other means before
making a money transfer are essential
to reduce the risk of falling victim to
these scams.
“It is exactly through this type of
public and private sector cooperation
that INTERPOL will continue to help
member countries in bringing
cybercriminals to justice no matter
where they are,” concluded
Mr. Nakatani.
The 40-year-old, along with a 38-year-
old also arrested by Nigerian
authorities, faces charges including
hacking, conspiracy and obtaining
money under false pretences. Both
are currently on administrative bail as
the investigation continues. saharareporters.com/2016/08/01/ringleader-global-network-behind-thousands-online-scams-arrested-nigeria 
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