From JOHN FWAH, Kaduna
The operatives of Kaduna State Police Command said they have smashed a syndicate of three internet fraudsters who are notorious for defrauding unsuspecting students of Kaduna State University (KASU) of their tuition fees.
This was contained in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Command, ASP Mansir Hassan and made available to the media in Kaduna recently.
According to the statement, the arrested suspects are Muhammad Uthman Busari of Nariya Kaduna, AbdulAzeez Hamza of Hayin Dan-mani Kaduna and Noel Nims Audits.
The statement added that the suspects were cyber cafe operators who compromised the student registration portal and took undue advantage of those who chose to pay their fees online rather than via normal banking platforms.
“ The suspects often collect tuition fees from students in full but will pay a lesser amount into the State’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) and go further to intercept and manipulate the electronic transaction receipts from the TSA to read complete payment.
“So far, the suspects have short-changed over three hundred students of KASU and the total amount involved is put at over 60 million Naira which the principal suspect Muhammad Uthman Busari, has used in building and furnishing a house, purchase of a car, electronic appliances, gadgets and plots of lands in both Kaduna and Kwara States.
The suspects have since been charged to court for prosecution.”
The statement further stated that to checkmate activities of computer-related crimes in the state, the Command, the Commissioner of Police, CP A.D. Ali has approved the establishment of a cyber crime unit targeted at investigating cyber crime-related offences.
