The Enugu Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in its resolve to completely wipe out the menace of internet crimes popularly known as ‘Yahoo-yahoo’ on Thursday, September 26, 2019, raided two residential buildings at Maryland, Enugu where 28 suspected fraudsters were arrested.
According to the statement released by EFCC, the 28 suspected fraudsters were arrested following some intelligence obtained by the Commission regarding activities of some people living ostentatiously without any known means of livelihood. They were alleged to have specialized in defrauding many unsuspecting victims (within and outside the country) of huge sums of money through their nefarious operations.
In the course of executing a search at the residences of the 28 suspected fraudsters, many of them, including a female suspect, attempted destroying some phones found on them, as the female suspect was caught flushing a broken iPhone down the toilet. The phone was, however, recovered.
Some items which were confiscated during the raid include four (4) Apple MacBook, Two (2) iPhone, Xmax and other HP laptop computers.
Other items include Two (2) Toyota Camry, four (4) Toyota Corolla and one (1) Mercedez Benz GL450 car.
The suspects who have volunteered statements under words of caution will be charged to court as soon as investigations into the matter are concluded.
The Enugu Zonal Head of the Commission, Usman Imam, said the prevalence of cyber-crime in the zone and involvement of very young Nigerians was not only alarming but has become a national catastrophe.
He said; “We have a problem in our hands and we have to face it squarely. Personally, it is disheartening seeing young men and women being caught, prosecuted and convicted of crimes which could be avoided. But, they also have a role to play by consciously changing their mindset and shunning greed and peer pressure to commit a crime.”