Four Nigerians have been arrested in Muntinlupa City, Philippines for alleged involvement in an international syndicate that hacks and siphons funds from banks.
The National Bureau of Investigation stated this in a release on Tuesday, ABS-CBN News reports.
The statement, which was written in Phill and signed by NBI’s cybercrime division, chief Vic Lorenzo, did not name the Nigerians.
According to the statement, the suspects’ transactions were traced when they hacked a system of one Philippine bank, where at least P100 million was transferred into a different account.
“The international syndicate is complicated to the point that they study the system’s flaws. Once they see a weakness, they will take advantage of that,” the statement read.
“One of the suspects’ Filipina girlfriend admitted to having used her account to deposit and withdraw money amounting to at least P2 million, which was supposedly for tuition.
“Blank ATM cards and bank receipts were confiscated from the suspects.”
The bureau said the alleged offences violated the Access Device Law, Anti-Cybercrime Law and falsification of public documents.
The Nigerians told ABS-CBN that they were in the country to study, and they “know nothing about the hacking incident”.
One of them was quoted saying: “The funds withdrawn were donations from a Nigerian student community.”
