*Interpol鈥檚 Vice-President for Africa says the 10-day joint operation between the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit and Interpol鈥檚 National Central Bureau, has produced 聽鈥榦utstanding results of Operation Falcon II鈥� to disrupt the dangerous cyber gang and protect Nigerian consumers from further attack

Gbenga Kayode | 绿帽献妻

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and International Police (Interpol) as international law enforcement authorities have said they arrested nearly a dozen members of a notorious Nigerian cybercrime gang potentially responsible for targeting as many as 50,000 victims in various scams in recent years.

绿帽献妻 reports Interpol in a statement issued Wednesday, January 19, 2022, disclosed the transnational operatives arrested some of the 11 suspects thought to be associated with 鈥淪ilverTerrier鈥�, describing the suspects as the 鈥済lobally active criminals nationwide, flushing them out no matter where they tried to hide鈥�.鈥�

Interpol noted SilverTerrier is a cybercrime syndicate, which specialises in Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, and accused of employing a range of malware variants in tens of thousands of financial scams dating back to at least 2014.

RELATED #BeCyberAware: NCC Sensitises Telecoms Consumers On Scams, Cybersecurity

BEC has been described as a scam where a company employee authorised to make payments on behalf of the company is tricked into authorising phony payments or money transfers into accounts controlled by the attacker, via spoofed or legitimate e-mail, or over the phone.

According to Interpol, the 10-day joint sting operation carried out from December 13 to December 22, 2021, between operatives of the NPF Cybercrime Unit and Interpol鈥檚 National Central Bureau (NCB), dubbed Falcon II, led to the arrest of 11 suspects based in Lagos and Asaba, in Delta State of Nigeria.

It also gathered Palo Alto Networks鈥� threat intelligence arm, Unit 42, assisted with the latest operation in the West African country.

Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm, also aided by providing research on the suspects鈥� infrastructure, digital traces of activity, and their identities.

READ ALSO: NCC Alerts Consumers To 鈥楤adUSB鈥� Ransomware Attacking Organisations鈥� Networks

Similarly, analysts with Unit 42 was quoted to have said that six of the 11 suspects arrested have ties to SilverTerrier, and have 鈥渟uccessfully avoided prosecution for the past half decade due to the complexities of mapping global victims beyond the flow of stolen funds back to the source of malicious network activity.鈥�

According to the international crime control agency, the Interpol General Secretariat supported field operations 24/7, forensically extracting, and analysing data contained in the laptops and mobile phones seized by NPF during the arrests.

Gang鈥檚 BEC criminal schemes involves over 50,000 targets with 800,000 potential victims’ credentials

The Police authorities further noted that preliminary analysis has indicated that the suspects鈥� collective involvement in BEC criminal schemes may be associated with over 50,000 targets.

READ ALSO Interview: How Sustained Cybersecurity Awareness Will Address Online Frauds In Nigeria 鈹�Expert

Interpol stated: 鈥淥ne of the arrested suspects was in possession of more than 800,000 potential victim domain credentials on his laptop.

鈥淎nother suspect had been monitoring conversations between 16 companies and their clients and diverting funds to 鈥楽ilverTerrier鈥� whenever company transactions were about to be made.鈥�

It was also learnt that a member of the syndicate was suspected of taking part in BEC crime across a wide range of West African countries, including The Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria.

RELATED CyberEspionage: NCC Alerts Nigerians To Hackers鈥� Targeting Telcos, ISPs, Others

Garba Baba Umar, Assistant Inspector-General of Police and Head of NCB Abuja further stated: 鈥淏y alerting Nigeria to this serious cybercrime threat, Interpol enabled me to give the order to hunt down these globally active criminals nationwide, flushing them out no matter where they tried to hide in my country.鈥�

Umar, who doubles as Interpol鈥檚 Vice-President for Africa also disclosed that 鈥渢he outstanding results of Operation Falcon II have served to disrupt this dangerous cyber gang and protect Nigerian citizens from further attack.鈥�

It is as well noted with BEC fraud having both a cyber and financial element, Operation Falcon II saw financial 鈥榩athfinder countries鈥� belonging to Interpol鈥檚 Global Financial Crime Taskforce (IGFCTF), including Nigeria, work together on cross-border financial investigations linked to the operation.

RELATED: Telecoms Regulator鈥檚 Central Mandate Is To Ensure Consumer Protection 鈹�NCC

The operation was reportedly developed as part of efforts at supporting joint operations in Africa with funding by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UK),

The IGFCTF is now coordinating further action against 鈥楽ilverTerrier鈥� bank accounts and sharing intelligence on the domain credentials of potential victims with member countries to prevent further fraud.

The Assistant Inspector-General of Police and Head of NCB Abuja, therefore, urged other African countries to cooperate with the Interpol in ridding the continent of cybercrime and to make its cyberspace a safer place for consumers.

According to the United States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), BEC remains 鈥渙ne of the most financially damaging online crimes.鈥�

It was learnt the FBI received over 19,000 BEC and e-mail account compromise complaints, costing victims as much as $1.86billion 2020.

Kindly Share This Story