Cyber crime: 288 persons convicted in Nigeria

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has convicted more than 288 persons for various cases of cybercrime across the country.

 The anti-crime agency’s  boss, Ibrahim Lamorde, stated this while speaking with newsmen in Abuja
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According to EFCC, another 234 cases are still under prosecution in various courts nationwide while four fugitives have been extradited to the U.S. while underscoring the need for collaboration among national law enforcement agencies to combat the growing wave of crime aided by information and communication technology (ICT) tools.

In the course of fighting Internet fraud, EFFC seized counterfeit financial instruments worth over N248 billion over the past one year, Lamorde told attendees at the opening ceremony of the three-day conference tagged “Regional Cooperation Against Internet-based Transnational Fraud” organised by the Commission in collaboration with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Abuja.

The fake financial instruments in different foreign currencies included Dollars, Pounds and Euro he says noting that, “in 2011, the fake financial instruments seized by the commission in collaboration with the Nigeria Postal Service, stood at $ 24,213,208 (N3,793,970,000), £858,937 (N213,299,000) and €1, 195, 218214 (N244,427,000,000).”

The EFCC boss who acknowledges the challenges being faced by various countries in the West African sub-region in the fight against Internet crime states that called for co-operation among law enforcement authorities across international jurisdictions to tackle the growing incidence of cybercrime.

“We must collaborate to at least survive the onslaught and then fight back from the position of strength conferred by pooled resources, shared intelligence, joint operations and other efforts such as this.”

He further said that Nigeria’s efforts at tackling cybercrime has been complemented by the legislative arm of government that provided a strong legal framework; the judiciary and the banking sector.

                                               culled:Technologytimes