4 Nigerians arrested for allegedly hacking, siphoning P100 million from Philippines bank

The Philippines National Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday arrested 4 Nigerian nationals in Muntinlupa City for alleged involvement in an international syndicate that hacks and siphons funds from banks, ABS-CBN  Philippines reports.

According to the NBI, the fraudsters’ transactions were traced when they hacked a system of one Philippine bank, where at least P100 million (Seven Million Naira) were transferred and funneled into a different account.

“The international syndicate is a bit complicated, to the point that they are studying the system flaws. When they see weakness there they take advantage,” NBI Cybercrime Division chief Vic Lorenzo said.

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 Nigerians denied the allegations, citing that they were here in the country to study and that they know nothing about the hacking incident. The funds withdrawn were donations from a Nigerian student community, one of them said.

The NBI said the Nigerians violated the Access Device Law, Anti-Cybercrime law and falsification of public documents.