Operatives of the Katsina State Command of the Department of State Services (DSS) have arrested eight suspected hackers and fraudsters in the state.
The suspects were arrested with aim of getting rid of the activities of criminal elements operating in all parts of the state with several operations carried out by the command.
While parading the suspects before the Katsina DSS command headquarters, Katsina on Thursday, the Command’s Assistant Director in charge of operations and intelligence, Suleiman Bello, said three suspected hackers and fraudsters were tracked and arrested at Unguwar Sanusi area and Kwanar Farakwai of Kaduna North and lgabi local government areas of Kaduna State respectively.
He identified the suspects as; Imrana Yusuf (30years), Abba Rabi’u (25 years), and Ahmad Musa (23 years) who he explained have specialized in hacking into GSM numbers of top government officials and politically exposed persons in the state and outside to steal airtime worth thousands of naira.
The suspects, he further explained, have confessed to the crime, adding that three (3) mobile phones, which were used in the village in perpetrating the crime, were recovered from them.
In a related development, the Command has burst a suspected criminal syndicate that specializes in defrauding and swindling innocent job seekers by providing them with fake appointment letters of Katsina State Teachers Service Board (TSB) and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in exchange for a huge amount of money ranging from two hundred thousand naira (N200, 000) to five hundred thousand naira (N500,000) per head.
The suspects, five in their numbers, have defrauded unsuspecting job seekers
money amounting to over thirty million (N30m).
The suspects include; Riluwanu Bala TANWA (40 years), Muhammad Murtala Yahaya (46 years, Abdurrahman Salisu (42 years), and Nura Musa (35 years) with the name of the number five member of the syndicate was not made available.
Some of the items recovered from the syndicate on display include; one (1) set of HP desktop computers, one (1) HP laptop computer, one (1) Acer Laptop computer, copies of fake appointment letters, POS transaction receipts, and Zenith Bank statement of account.
Other items recovered in their possession are four (4) mobile phones as well as two (2) flash drives.
According to the Command, all the suspects would be charged to court
after the completion of the investigation.
