Security News

Interpol Nabs 3 Nigerian Scammers Behind Malware-based Attacks
2022-05-30 23:59

Interpol on Monday announced the arrest of three suspected global scammers in Nigeria for using remote access trojans such as Agent Tesla to facilitate malware-enabled cyber fraud. The law enforcement said that the suspects systematically used Agent Tesla to breach business computers and divert financial transactions to bank accounts under their control.

Three Nigerians arrested for malware-assisted financial crimes
2022-05-30 15:07

Interpol has announced the arrest of three Nigerian men in Lagos, who are suspected of using remote access trojans to reroute financial transactions and steal account credentials. Interpol did not disclose how much money the gang was able to steal from the victimized organizations.

Nigerian hacker pleads guilty to stealing payroll deposits
2022-02-23 18:47

A Nigerian national named Charles Onus has pled guilty in the District Court of the Southern District of New York to hacking into a payroll company's user accounts and stealing payroll deposits. According to the indictment and the statements made in court, Onus was actively involved in a scheme that took over user accounts of company employees across the United States and stole payroll deposits by diverting the salary payments to debit cards under his control.

Meta and Chime sue Nigerians behind Facebook, Instagram phishing
2022-02-09 15:10

Meta has filed a joint lawsuit with Chime, a financial technology and digital banking company, against two Nigerian individuals who allegedly used Instagram and Facebook accounts to impersonate Chime and target its users in phishing attacks. The two defendants, Arafat Eniola Arowokoko and Arowokoko Afeez Opeyemi, presumably used a network of at least five Facebook accounts and over 800 Instagram accounts to impersonate the fintech company, attempting to take over customers' accounts.

Interpol Busted 11 Members of Nigerian BEC Cybercrime Gang
2022-01-20 02:20

A coordinated law enforcement operation has resulted in the arrest of 11 members allegedly belonging to a Nigerian cybercrime gang notorious for perpetrating business email compromise attacks targeting more than 50,000 victims in recent years. The disruption of the BEC network is the result of a ten-day investigation dubbed Operation Falcon II undertaken by the Interpol along with participation from the Nigeria Police Force's Cybercrime Police Unit in December 2021.

Nigerian Threat Actors Solicit Employees to Deploy Ransomware for Cut of Profits
2021-08-20 14:09

Researchers have discovered a Nigerian threat actor trying to turn an organization's employees into insider threats by soliciting them to deploy ransomware for a cut of the ransom profits. "In this latest campaign, the sender tells the employee that if they're able to deploy ransomware on a company computer or Windows server, then they would be paid $1 million in bitcoin, or 40% of the presumed $2.5 million ransom," researchers wrote in a report published Thursday about the campaign.

Nigerian Arrested in US for Hacking Payroll Services Company
2021-06-04 03:55

A Nigerian national was arrested recently in the United States on charges related to hacking into user accounts at a payroll processing company, to steal payroll deposits. The man, Charles Onus, 34, who was arrested in San Francisco on April 14, is accused of participating in a scheme that resulted in the compromise of approximately 5,500 user accounts at an unnamed human resources and payroll services company in the U.S. In 2017 and 2018, Onus allegedly employed a credential stuffing attack to gain unauthorized access to user accounts at the targeted company.

Nigerian email scammer sent down for 40 months in the US, ordered to pay back $2.7m to victims
2021-04-14 22:32

A Nigerian email scammer based in New York was on Tuesday sentenced to 40 months in prison, and ordered to pay back $2.7m in stolen money. As opposed to the infamous Nigerian email scams where people pretended to be heirs to fortunes and devised various ways to get victims to send them money to access their funds, the scam run by Eke and three other Nigerian conspirators was significantly more sophisticated, the indictment states [PDF].

Three Nigerians Arrested for Cybercrime Operation Targeting 150 Countries
2020-11-27 13:22

Three Nigerian nationals have been arrested in Lagos for their suspected involvement in Business Email Compromise scams. The three - identified only as OC, 32, IO, 34, and OI, 35 - are believed to be part of a larger organized crime group called TMT, which has been involved in malware distribution, phishing, and extensive BEC fraud.

Interpol Arrests 3 Nigerian BEC Scammers For Targeting Over 500,000 Entities
2020-11-25 22:22

Three Nigerian citizens suspected of being members of an organized cybercrime group behind distributing malware, carrying out phishing campaigns, and extensive Business Email Compromise scams have been arrested in the city of Lagos, Interpol reported yesterday. "The suspects are alleged to have developed phishing links, domains, and mass mailing campaigns in which they impersonated representatives of organizations," Interpol said.