Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) says it has recovered more than 12.5 million email logs belonging to victims of cybercrime across more than 50 countries.
Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Akaninyene Ezima, Director of the NPF-NCCC, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja.
Ezima said the email logs were recovered during an investigation into a business email compromise operation.
“The Business Email Compromise investigation also established that the suspect had generated in excess of N100 million from the criminal operation,” he said.
The AIG also disclosed that more than N3.6 billion in suspected criminal proceeds was traced through a cryptocurrency conversion scheme during an international investment fraud and money laundering investigation.
He said investigations into sextortion and romance scams also revealed multiple victims linked to the same criminal identity.
“These operations demonstrate the growing technical capability of the NPF-NCCC in the areas of digital forensics, open-source intelligence, network analysis, financial investigation and cryptocurrency tracing,” Ezima said.
He said the investigations also demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in tackling transnational cybercrime.
According to him, successful collaboration under the Budapest Convention framework underscores Nigeria’s commitment to international cooperation and information sharing in the fight against cybercrime.
Ezima said the identification of Kestart Technology as a terminal off-ramp for suspected criminal proceeds further demonstrated the Centre’s increasing focus on the financial infrastructure sustaining cybercrime.
He explained that the objective of the Centre was not only to arrest cybercriminals but also to identify, trace and disrupt the financial channels through which criminal proceeds were moved and concealed.
The NPF-NCCC Director said the arrest of individuals allegedly involved in the trading of pre-registered SIM cards also demonstrated the Centre’s commitment to dismantling infrastructure used to facilitate identity theft, impersonation and other cyber-enabled crimes.
Ezima warned individuals and criminal networks involved in cybercrime that the Centre was strengthening its capacity to identify and prosecute offenders.
“Let me use this opportunity to issue a clear warning to individuals and criminal networks engaged in cybercrime. The long arm of the law will catch up with you,” he said.
He said the use of sophisticated tools, encrypted platforms, cryptocurrency or false identities would not guarantee safety for cybercriminals.
“The NPF-NCCC is strengthening its investigative capabilities, expanding partnerships with international law enforcement agencies and deploying advanced technical tools to identify, trace, arrest and prosecute persons involved in cybercrime,” he said.
Ezima added that no matter how sophisticated cybercriminals’ methods were or how well they believed they had concealed their tracks, the Centre would continue to pursue them.
He said the operations presented by the Centre were evidence of its commitment to combating cybercrime and disrupting the financial networks supporting criminal activities.
