EFCC Arrests Suspect Buying Bank Account Details as Fraudsters Steal N52 Billion From Nigerian Banks

• The EFCC nabbed a suspected fraudster buying bank account details from customers to defraud members of the public
• Sunday pay N25,000 or N50,000 to account ownwes, and gather their bank information, including ATM cards and others
• The account owner admitted that he was unaware that his account was being used to defraud individuals, which led to his arrest

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

Operatives from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's Benin Zonal Directorate have detained Olawole Sunday, a suspected fraudster who specializes in purchasing bank account information from people in order to swindle unsuspecting members of the public.

As part of Sunday's strategy, young people were encouraged to register several bank accounts, pay N25,000 or N50,000 for each account, and gather their bank information, including ATM cards and other information.

Under the pretense of dealing in foreign exchange, Sunday allegedly used the account information of a person named Uyi Godstime Eghosa to cheat a petitioner out of N2 million.

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Eghosa, the account owner, was detained on Sunday after confessing that he had no idea his account was being used to swindle the people.

Eghosa clarified that following a payment of N25,000 (twenty-five thousand naira), he gave Sunday access to his account information, including his ATM card.

Sunday admitted to the crime when he was arrested and will face charges once the investigations are finished.

Fraudsters steal N52 billion from Nigerian banks

Despite continuous efforts to improve security systems, Nigerian banks reported a startling N52.26 billion loss to fraud in 2024, a situation that highlights the increasing sophistication of financial crimes.

According to the most recent report from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the banking industry is still seriously threatened by fraudulent activities such as insider collusion, account manipulation, and identity theft.

However, NIBSS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were able to effectively recover N1.74 billion to stop these illegal actions and reclaim stolen cash.

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The research focuses on instances where scammers took advantage of systemic flaws, such as opening accounts using identities they had stolen, manipulating Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), and transferring funds without authorization through compromised bank employees.

GTBank, Zenith Bank, others to freeze bank accounts

Legit.ng reported that The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's (EFCC) request to freeze 67 bank accounts across many banks in relation to a purported N52.9 million fraud was granted by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The application was granted by Justice Emeka Nwite after EFCC attorney Martha Babatunde submitted an ex-parte motion. Miracle Anameze filed the motion ex-parte, specifically designated as FHC/ABJ/CS/1895/V/2024.

The EFCC requested a court order enabling its chairman, Ola Plucked, or any other designated person to direct bank managing directors to freeze particular accounts, stopping all transactions while the inquiry is ongoing.

Source: Legit.ng