Interpol said on Monday it has arrested a Nigerian behind a series of online scams worth more than $60 million in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt.
The 40-year-old man, known only as “Mike” is alleged to head a network of 40 individuals working from Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa behind global scams worth more than $60m involving hundreds of victims worldwide,” the international police organisation said in a statement.
“In one case, a target was conned into paying out $15.4 million,” Interpol said, indicating that the arrest was carried out with the support of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
His operations involve using targeted malware to take over systems, use compromised emails and romance scams.
Nigeria’s anti-fraud agency was also involved in the arrest.
“The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States,” it said.
“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 and romance scams,” it said.
They would then send fake messages to buyers with instructions to make a payment to a bank account under their control.
The other strategy they used was to take over the email account of a high-level executive and give instructions to transfer money into a bank account they controlled.
The suspect and a fellow fraudster, 38, who was also arrested in the city, face charges including hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences.
They are currently out on bail as investigations continue, the statement said.
