2024

James

The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to 109 foreign hackers. The defendants were facing a six-count charge on high-level cybercrimes and hacking activities allegedly committed in Katampe, Abuja earlier this year.&nbsp; 
According to a ruling by Justice Ekerete Akpan, the bail ruling was delivered based on the application moved by the defence counsel, James Onoja, SAN. He ordered the accused to present five sureties along with a total sum of N1 billion. 
While stressing his plea, the defence counsel reiterated the significance of following the bail application due process during the trial. “My Lord, we filed a motion for bail in respect of the first to 99th defendants and 105th to 109th defendants,” he said. 
“We know that the essence of bail is to allow the defendants to appear and stand trial. That is what is allowed in the law and Administration of Criminal Justice Act. I proposed to the prosecutor this morning that we are all interested in the defendants being present for trial so I said we are ready to submit all the passports of the defendants,” he added. 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="563" height="357" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/the-foreign-hackers.jpg" alt="the accused (hackers) after the court procession" class="wp-image-240834" style="width: 100%;height:auto">
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 The accused strolling out following the court procession 
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Onoja again pointed out that to ensure the defendants are monitored, all their travelling documents have been submitted. “All the travel documents of all the defendants will be submitted. I know they cannot travel without their documents and then we are also willing to provide five guarantors to provide them on bail. Reliable guarantors to take them on bail,” he said.&nbsp; 
The court added that along with the presentation, each of the sureties must own a landed property within the Abuja metropolis and must submit two recent passport photographs to the court. 
However, the bail application was not opposed by the prosecution counsel A. A Egwu. 
On another end, the defence counsel to the Brazilians, Eric Oba, tendered a fresh bail application for his clients. Oba is representing the 100th to 104th defendants in the matter. 
However, Justice Akpan agreed to the submission of the defence counsel that their clients be granted bail. He thereby ordered that pending the perfection of their bail conditions, the males should be remanded at Kuje prison, Abuja while the females are to be kept at Keffi prison in Nasarawa State. 
He then adjourned the case to February 27, 2025. 
<h4 id="battle-against-hackers-a-never-ending-case" class="wp-block-heading">Battle against hackers – a ‘never-ending’ case</h4> 
As always, the battle against fraud seems to be a never-ending war. The latest Fraud and Forgery report by the <a href="https://fitc-ng.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Financial Institutions Training Centre</a> (FITC) showed that Nigerian banks had lost N53.4 billion in nine months to hackers. 
According to the report which covers the first three quarters of 2024, the N53.4 billion stolen in the first nine months of this year was N44 billion more than the N9.4 billion that was stolen during the same period last year, representing a whopping 468 per cent increase over a year.&nbsp; 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="400" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Hacker.jpg" alt="Asia hackers allegedly steal $16.8 million from the Central Bank of Uganda" class="wp-image-194363">
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Every quarter, the report showed that hackers started slowly in the first quarter of the year, stealing just N468.4 million. But the numbers will increase massively in the second quarter as the hackers stole a mind-boggling N42.8 billion representing a 9037.5 per cent increase. 
The third quarter of 2024 witnessed a slowing down, with Nigerian banks losing N10.1 billion in the quarter, representing a decline of 76.4 per cent. The FITC report for Q3 is based on returns on fraud and forgery received cases from 30 deposit money institutions.&nbsp; 
Along with the increasing amounts of funds stolen by hackers, the FITC report also revealed that the number of fraud cases reported by Nigerian banks rose by 65 per cent. Between July and September alone, hackers attempted to steal N115.9 billion. This is up from N56.6 billion attempted in the previous quarter, representing a 104.8 per cent increase.&nbsp; 
Also, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said that about $500 million has been lost to cybercrime during the year. The EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, also expressed concerns about the rise of cybercrime in the nation and the attending cost of hackers’ activities.&nbsp; 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="650" height="350" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/images-8-1.jpeg" alt="EFCC Chairman, Olukoyede" class="wp-image-238027" style="width: 100%;height:auto">
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 Ola Olukoyede – EFCC Chairman
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He raised the issue during a cybercrime summit organized by the agency. According to the EFCC boss, cybercrime accounted for the larger share of 3,455 cases recorded during his first year in office. 
Olukoyede shared data on the rising global loss to cybercrime. 
“Projections by multiple sources show that the global loss to cybercrime may reach a staggering $10.5tn. The research I did earlier this year confirmed that cybercrime has become the third largest crime in the world with approximately 2,328 cases occurring daily”, the anti-corruption chief concluded. 
Also Read: <a target="_blank" href="https://technext24.com/2024/11/27/hackers-stole-n53-4bn-nigerian-banks/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hackers stole N53.4bn from Nigerian banks in 9 months as fraud rises by 65%.</a>

Abuja High Court grants N1 billion bail to 109 foreign hackers

Technext.ng

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