By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Police in Bauchi have arrested suspected cyber crime trainees undergoing tutelage to perfect their nefarious acts.
The news of their arrest was contained in a crime bulletin signed and issued by SP Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, Anipr
Police Public Relations Officer,
on be of the State Commissioner of Police Bauchi State Command, Umar Sands.
The statement said that the Operatives of the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB), Bauchi Command acted on a verified intelligence on 20th May 2022, bursted into an apartment located at Kirfi Road, GRA, Bauchi, where a training centre was established for the training of youths who want to venture into internet crime (yahoo-yahoo) by one
Emmanuel Saleh alias Wizblaq 22 yrs old ‘m’ of Rafin-Zurfi, Bauchi.
Suspects arrested in the apartment are: Emmanuel Saleh alias Wizblaq (the ringleader), Matthias Akronyi alias Mad Kid, 20 yrs ‘m’ of Block 24, 82 Division’s Army Barracks, Enugu, Patience Nuhu 21yrs (female) of Rafin-Zurfi, Bauchi, Bulus Haruna 18 yrs old ‘m’ of Rafin-Zurfi, Bauchi and Kingsley Simon 19 yrs old ‘m’ of Rafin-Zurfi, Bauchi.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the principal suspect Emmanuel Saleh and members of the syndicate targeted foreign women under a proxy server, hacked by spoofing the victim’s email account/website which makes it possible to carry out variations in the legitimate email of the victims to fool the victim and gain access to the accounts, calendar and data.During the investigation, the suspects confessed to the crime.
Items of alleged crime recovered from the residential apartment turned tining centre as Exhibits include:
Four (4) laptops, One (1) television set, Four (4) sound systems and a brand new power generator.Other items are Seven (7) plastic chairs, One (1) office chair,
Musical keyboard and fridge.
The Commissioner of Police directed that the suspects be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.
Consequently, the Commissioner of Police, Bauchi State Command CP. Umar Mamman Sanda fdc, psc,mnim. has advised the citizens of Bauchi State to take note of the following precautions to mitigate against cybercrime.
• Be careful of the information shared online(e.g pet names, Date of Birth etc).
• Don’t click on anything in an unsolicited email/SMS asking to update or verify your account information.
• Carefully examine the email address, URL, and spelling used in any correspondence.
• Set up two factors (or multi-factor) authentication on any account that allows it.
• Be careful what you download. Never open an email attachment from someone you don’t know.
• Verify payment and purchase requests in person, if possible; or by calling the person to make sure it is legitimate.