2024

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A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has granted bail to two persons arraigned for defrauding telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria of up to the sum of N1.9bn (one point nine billion Naira) in data and airtime. Trail judge, Justice Akintayo Aluko granted them bail after hearing two separate applications from the defendant representatives. 
The Police Special Fraud Unit, Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos last week arraigned two individuals- Timothy Fashina Olubukola, a student of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Ogun State and Imonina Odemerho, the propriertor of Resign Regal Academy in Beni City, Edo State for allegedly hacking into MTN’s Applicatio Programming Interface (API) and stealing Nn1.9 billio naira worth of data and airtime. 
Both men were accused of carrying out the act in collaboration with two others who are at large between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states. The defendants were arraigned on a four-count charge of conspiracy, unauthorised access to the telco company’s API and unlawful conversion. 
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The prosecutor claimed that the offences contravened sections 27(1)(b), 6(2), and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, but were punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act. He also informed the court that the offences violated section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, but punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act. 
Read also: <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/08/06/nsif-powered-envivo-dubious-company/">Revealed: FG’s National Youth Investment Fund is powered by Envivo, a tech company with a dubious past</a> 
Read an extract from the charges below: 
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">“That you, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola, Anthony Imonina Odemerho and Others at large, between January and April, 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, intentionally and without authorization, accessed the computer system or network of MTN Nigeria Communication Pie through the unlawful use of authorization keys and passwords to gain access to MTN web-based platform known as Application Programming Interface (API). “This was done with intent of obtaining airtime data from the said computer system or network, valued at one billion, nine hundred million Naira (N1, 900, 000, 000), which you sold to the public and converted the proceeds of same to your own use and benefit, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 6(2) of the Cybercrime (Prevention, Prohibition, etc) Act, 2015 is amended in 2024, “That you, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola, Anthony Imonina Odemerho and thers at large, between January and April, 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, unlawfully manipulated MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN) computer system authorization keys or passwords which you used to access MTN. web-based platform also known as Application Programme Interface (API) and fraudulently obtained airtime from the said computer system, valued at N1, 900, 000, 000 (one billion, nine hundred million Naira). “You later converted this to data and sold to the public and thereby caused financial loss to MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 28(1)(b) of the cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, but punishable under Section 28(4) of the same Act. </pre> 
“You later converted this to data and sold to the public and thereby caused financial loss to MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 28(1)(b) of the cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, but punishable under Section 28(4) of the same Act.&nbsp; 
Justice Aluko <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria/metro/court-grants-n50m-bail-to-mtns-n1-9-billion-fraud-suspects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> the defendants to provide two sureties each. The first must be a level 14 civil servant with the Lagos State Government or the Federal Government. The second is must own a landed property within the. juridiction of the court, provide an evidence of ownership and must swear to an affidavit of means. 
Likewise, the civil servant that is standing as a surety must produce a reference letter from the place of employment, a document of last promotion and a two recent passport photographs with the registrar of the court. 
Justice Aluko ordered the prosecution team to verify all the documents provided by the sureties, including their residential addresses. Pending the fulfilment of their bail conditions, the court remanded the defendants in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Services (NCoS).
The post <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/08/06/court-grants-bail-hackers-n1-9bnmtn/">Court grants bail to MAPOLY student for allegedly stealing N1.9bn from MTN</a> first appeared on <a href="https://technext24.com">Technext</a>.

Court grants bail to MAPOLY student for allegedly stealing N1.9bn from MTN

Technext.ng

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