Forty eight Internet fraud suspects are currently being prosecuted in court by the Kaduna office of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC . Mailafia Yakubu, Zonal head of the EFCC in Kaduna made the disclose today, 4 September, 2019 at a media briefing where he updated the public on activities of the Commission in the zone.
He said that the Kaduna office, from January to date, received 345 petitions and investigated 286 cases. He added that 52 of the cases had been forwarded to legal department for advice while 56 cases involving 48 suspected internet fraudsters are already before the court, while 23 persons were convicted.
The briefing which is coming on the heels of the recent arrest of some Nigerians by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, in the United States also offered the zonal head the opportunity to restate the Commission’s determination to comprehensively tackle all cases of computer-based fraud in the country. He said the EFCC has a long history of collaboration with the FBI, noting that a number of investigations based on this synergy are currently ongoing.
Yakubu, who spoke on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu, lamented the negative effect of cybercrime on the country’s image and called on citizens to be vigilant in order not to fail victim of the crime.
While thanking Nigerians for their immense contributions to the fight against corruption, the Zonal head advised parents to monitor the lifestyle of their wards as youth are mostly targeted for recruitment into cybercrime cells by organised criminal groups.