A suspected fraudster named Ovoke Edirin has been arrested by the Delta State Police Command for allegedly hacking into Facebook and bank accounts. He is accused of siphoning $21,000 from a bank account in Florida after gaining unauthorized access.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the Delta State Command, SP Bright Edafe, shared the news in a video posted on X.
He explained that after hacking into the foreign bank account and discovering a balance of $21,000, Edirin sought out a car dealer with a domiciliary account to facilitate the transfer of the foreign currency.
The PPRO said: “On getting to a car dealer based in Uvwie Local Government Area, the suspect told him of his intention to purchase Lexus 350 RX, but said that he only had dollars for payment.
“The dealer, who agreed, gave the suspect his domiciliary account number, into which the intending vehicle buyer initiated a successful transfer of the $21,000 from the victim’s mobile app. He also generated a receipt which he showed the dealer.”
Tribune Online gathered that the dealer, however, acted smartly by going to his bank to confirm the payment.
To his surprise, on getting there, he found out that no transfer was made into his domiciliary account, showing that the suspect’s move failed.
He reportedly raised an alarm, leading to the suspect’s arrest.
SP Edafe said that though Edirin initially denied, he eventually opened up, confessing that he hacked the foreign account and made the transfer, which was discovered not to have gone through.
During an interrogation, the suspect revealed that he started hacking Facebook accounts before upgrading to bank accounts.
He told the police: “When I hacked a Gmail account, I saw the password and username to the account.
“Immediately, I decided to change the password and switched it off. Then, I went online to search for the name of the bank.
“After getting the name, I used the password and username to access the account. I saw $21,000 in it. I decided to look for a place where I could easily remove the money.
“My decision was to go and use the money to buy a car since it is in dollars and no one would have such an account except business
men.
“I went to a car dealer and told him of my intention to purchase a car, but made him to know that I would be paying in dollars.
“He agreed with me and I made the transfer of $21,000 to him.”
Edirin claimed that it was his first time of hacking a foreign account, saying that he had been doing it with Facebook accounts for three months.
He pleaded with the government to forgive him, promising not to do such again.