By Bashir Olanrewaju
The Nigeria police unveiled a cyber crime portal to receive information and tips to combat a renewed surge in digital offenses.
The move is aimed at “ensuring ease of crime reportage by members of the public to enable prompt investigation, arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of cybercrime,” Frank Mba, the police spokesman, said in an emailed statement. Cases reported are given immediate attention by the police cybercrime unit, which works with INTERPOL, he added.
The portal will also provide a platform to inform Nigerians about emerging trends in cybercrime, including mode of operation and measures people could take to protect themselves against attacks. This was made necessary by a renewed surge in cybercrime, especially those targeting the online access to the bank accounts of individuals and companies, according to the police.
Nigerian cybercrime gangs engage globally in mass distribution of emails fused with malware to steal vital information from browsers and email headers to aid their hacking of people’s financial information, according to the statement.
The police recently arrested a suspect it said
“specializes in creating, designing, selling of phishing links and hosting malwares on websites used by the gang for phishing and hacking purposes.”
Another suspect said to be a graduate of business administration, was found with over 50,000 email accounts and passwords of individuals and companies. These are targeted with the objective of finding their bank account information and stealing money from the accounts.