The National Bureau of Investigation in Philippines on Tuesday, September 8, arrested four Nigerian nationals in Muntinlupa City for alleged involvement in an international syndicate that hacks and siphons funds from banks.
A video showing the moment the four Nigerian men were arrest has emerged and shows the men denying being involved in cyber crime.
A statement released by Vic Lorenzo, the Cybercrime Division chief of the National Bureau of Investigation, claims the suspects’ illicit transactions were traced when they hacked a system of a Philippine bank and allegedly transferred at least P100 million into a different account.
“The fraudsters, Nigerians – transactions were traced when they hacked a system of one Philippines bank, where at least P100 million were transfered and funneled into a different account. The international syndicate is complicated to the point that they study the system’s flaw. Once they see a weakness, they will take advantage of that,” the statement reads.
“One of the suspects’ Filipina girlfriend admitted to having used her account to deposit and withdraw money amonting to at least P2 million, which was suppossedly for tuition. Bank cards and bank receipts were confiscated from the suspects.”
However, the Nigerian students denied the allegations, citing that they were in the country to study and that they know nothing about the hacking incident. One of them claimed that the funds withdrawn were donations from Nigerian student community.
The NBI said the Nigerians violated the Access Device Law, Anti-Cybercime law and falsification of public documents.
