The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the NPF-NCCC, Akaninyene Ezima, disclosed the arrests during a press briefing in Abuja.
One of the suspects was arrested in July at Megamound Estate in Lekki, Lagos, following a request from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) to preserve data connected to an IP address allegedly linked to a business email compromise scheme.
Police said a forensic examination of devices recovered from the suspect revealed over 12.5 million email logs belonging to alleged victims across more than 50 countries.
Investigators also reportedly traced the suspect’s BVN to accounts in six banks and fintech platforms and recovered a Mercedes-Benz AMG GLC 43, which was allegedly purchased with proceeds from the illegal activities.
The suspect was further accused of using phishing kits sourced through Telegram to gain unauthorised access to Microsoft 365 accounts, with the alleged operation generating more than ₦100 million.
In another case, the owner of a technology company was arrested in Agiliti, Lagos, over allegations of international investment fraud and money laundering.
According to the police, two victims allegedly lost a combined ₦56.3 million after being persuaded to invest through a stock trading platform operated via WhatsApp.
The investigation also allegedly uncovered cryptocurrency transactions involving USDT worth about ₦3.6 billion, which investigators suspect may be linked to proceeds of crime. The transactions were reportedly carried out through Bybit’s peer-to-peer platform.
Meanwhile, two other suspects were arrested in Anambra State over allegations of conspiracy, identity theft, impersonation and computer-related fraud.
Police alleged that the suspects impersonated a government official on WhatsApp and Facebook. The investigation reportedly led to the recovery of several registered and unregistered MTN and Airtel SIM cards, along with an MTN toolkit.
The police said investigations into the cases were ongoing.
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