Kaduna: Police Command Establish Cybercrime Desk As Fraudsters Meet Waterloo

FROM Lateef Taiwo in Kaduna

As a result of the increase in Cybercrime related offenses in the state, the Kaduna State Police Command has established a unit targeted at investigating such offenses.

This is contained in a statement signed and made available to newsmen by the command’s public relations officer ASP Mansir Hassan on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the Commissioner of Police, CP A.D. Ali, psc, in order to checkmate activities of computer related crimes in the State, created a new unit which is targeted at investigating cybercrime related offences.

Explaining further, it says victims of social media accounts hacking, fake purchase alerts, deceptive social romance, cryptocurrency/Forex frauds among many other offences within the State, should forward their complaints to the Commissioner of Police through the newly created unit for diligent investigation.

Meanwhile, the Police in Kaduna have arrested a syndicate of three internet fraudsters who are notorious for defrauding unsuspecting students of Kaduna state university (KASU) of their tuition fees.

The Command’s public relations officer ASP Mansir Hassan in the statement said they arrested three suspects who are mainly cyber cafe operators compromised the students’ registration portal and took undue advantage of students who chose to pay their fees online rather than via the normal banking platforms.

“The suspects often collect tuition fees from students in full but will pay a lesser amount into the State’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) and go further to intercept and manipulate the electronic transaction receipts from the TSA to read complete payment.

“So far, the suspects have short-changed over three hundred students of KASU and the total amount involved is put at over sixty million naira which the principal suspect Muhammad Uthman Busari have used in building and furnishing a house, purchase of a car, electronic appliances, gadgets and plots of lands in both Kaduna and Kwara States.”

Mansir said the suspects have since been charged to court for prosecution.