The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has revealed how suspected internet fraudsters, commonly known as Yahoo boys, stole more than N7.2 million from the bank account of a serving judge in the middle of the night.
Speaking at the launch of two books written by retired High
Court judge Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, Olukoyede said the judge called him
around 1 am after receiving several debit alerts.
According to him, the judge explained that the money was
meant for her child’s education.
“She had just been scammed of the money she had been putting
together for six years to send her child to school,” he said.
Olukoyede said the victim lost about N7.2 million before she
contacted him for help. He added that the incident occurred in a state where
the EFCC had been restrained by a court order from investigating some financial
crimes.
He quoted the judge as saying: “No, no, no! This is an
exception. You must do something immediately!”
The EFCC chairman said the commission acted swiftly and
recovered the full amount before the end of the day.
“Before 6 pm, we recovered the entire money for her.”
He said the experience showed why Nigerians must take
financial crimes seriously: “When you become a direct victim, that is when
you’ll know that something has to be done.”
Olukoyede called for stronger cooperation among law
enforcement agencies, citizens, and the judiciary to tackle cybercrime. He also
urged lawmakers to update Nigeria’s laws to support the use of artificial
intelligence (AI) in criminal investigations.
However, he noted that existing laws make it difficult to
admit AI-generated evidence in court, adding: “I wish our legislators and
professors of law will take time and come together to look at this area and
come up with laws that will help us in the area of AI.”
At the event, former Attorney-General of the Federation Kanu
Agabi (SAN) urged anti-corruption agencies to recover stolen public funds kept
abroad.
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