Bauchi State Police Command has arrested five suspects for alleged cybercrime popularly known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo.’ They were said to be undergoing training.
According to a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, SP Mohammed Ahmed Wakil, the suspects were arrested after the police acted on verified intelligence.
Wakil gave the names of the suspects as Emmanuel Saleh (ringleader), Matthias Akronyi, Patience Nuhu, Bulus Haruna, and Kingsley Simon.
He said, “The Operatives of the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB), Bauchi Command acted on a verified intelligence on 20th May 2022, burst into an apartment located at Kirfi Road, GRA, Bauchi, where a training centre was established for youths who want to venture into internet crime (yahoo-yahoo) by one Emmanuel Saleh alias Wizblaq, 22 yrs old ‘m’ of Rafin-Zurfi, Bauchi.”
The Police Spokesman also disclosed that findings 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.
Wakil said during the investigation, the suspects confessed to the crime.
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“The suspects arrested in the exotic 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,” he said.
Wakil said that that the proceeds of crime items recovered from the residential apartment turned training centre as exhibits include four laptops, one television set, four sound systems, brand new power generator, seven plastic chairs, one 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.
“He advised the citizens of Bauchi State to take note of the precautions to mitigate against cybercrime to include, being 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 and be careful what you download.
“Never open an email attachment from someone you don’t know and to verify payment and purchase requests in person, if possible; or by calling the person to make sure it is legitimate,” he added.
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