Five Under Graduates Arrested Over N8.5m Fraud

Detectives at the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, have arrested five persons, among who are students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, for allegedly hacking the accounts of Gold Chance Lotto. 

Preliminary investigation by the unit revealed that the suspect had successfully withdrawn N8.5 million from the company’s accounts in three states. Luck, however, ran against them after one of them, Nwokora Somani, a graduate of Madonna University, was arrested when he went to withdraw some money from his account. He was said to have earlier withdrawn N500,000 out of N2 million , alleged to be his share of the N8.5 million. But the suspects all claimed not to have a hand in the crime. Rather, they described themselves as victims of circumstance, informing that they only gave their account details to some persons, who claimed they needed a particular bank to pay in money. According to Somani, “I met a man called Blade through one of my cousins in the village and we exchanged telephone numbers. “Along the line, he asked if I had an account with Zenith Bank and requested I give him my account details that a friend wanted to pay in some money. “He said I would get 20 per cent of whatever amount would be paid. Later, I received an alert of N2 million. He took my ATM, password and token. “I went to the bank with him where we withdrew N500,000 across the counter. He only gave me N100,000 which he collected back. Later he withdrew another N1 million. “But I started receiving strange calls where the caller, who identified himself as Nath, claimed to be the owner. He threatened to deal with me if anything happens to his money. “I discovered that Blade gave my token to him.”