THE Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed how suspected Internet fraudsters, commonly known as Yahoo boys, stole over N7.2million from the bank account of a serving Judge in the middle of the night.
Speaking at the launch of two books written by retired High Court, Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, Olukoyede said the Judge called him around 1a.m. after receiving several debit alerts from money meant for her child’s education.
“She had just been scammed of the money she had been putting together for six years to send her child to school,” he said.
Olukoyede said the victim lost about N7.2million before contacting him for help, adding that the incident occurred in a state where the EFCC had been restrained by a court order from investigating some financial crimes.
He quoted the Judge as saying: “No, no, no! This is an exception. You must do something immediately!”
The EFCC boss said the Commission acted swiftly and recovered the full amount before the end of the day, noting: “Before 6p.m., we recovered the entire money for her.”
He said the experience showed why Nigerians must take financial crimes seriously, stating: “When you become a direct victim, that is when you’ll know that something has to be done.”
Olukoyede called for stronger cooperation among law enforcement agencies, citizens and the judiciary to tackle cybercrime, urging lawmakers to update Nigeria’s laws to support the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in criminal investigations.
He lamented that existing laws make it difficult to admit AI-generated evidence in court, adding: “I wish our legislators and professors of Law will take time and come together to look at this area and come up with laws that will help us in the area of AI.”
