Top Nigerian cyber-scammer arrested

A Nigerian man behind thousands of online scams around the world has been arrested after months of investigations, Interpol and Nigeria’s anti-fraud agency said.

The 40-year-old man, known only as “Mike” is alleged to have been the ringleader of a network of 40 people behind global scams worth over $60 million.

One of the group’s targets was conned into paying out $15.4 million.

His operations involved using malware to take over systems to compromise emails, as well as romance scams.

Interpol said that the criminal network compromised email accounts of small and medium-sized businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.

The network involved about 40 people in Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa who provided malware and carried out the scams, with money-laundering contacts in China, Europe and the US providing bank account details.

A supplier’s email would be compromised and fake messages sent to a buyer with instructions for payment to a bank account under the network’s control. Another strategy involved taking over the email account of a high-level executive and giving instructions to transfer money into a bank account they controlled.

“Cyber-crime poses a significant and growing threat, with tens of thousands of companies victimized in recent years,” Noboru Nakatani, executive director of the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation said. “The public, and especially businesses, need to be alert to this type of cyber-enabled fraud.”

The suspect and a 38-year-old accomplice face charges including hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences. They are currently out on bail as police investigations continue.