The Commissioner of Police, Anti-Fraud Unit, Federal Criminal Investigation Intelligence Department (FCIID) Ikoyi- Lagos, Mr Dan Okoro, on Thursday has warned the public to be vigilant as there are raised many cloned certificates and ATM cards in circulation.
Okoro , while briefing journalists in Lagos on the discovery of some cloned certificates by a syndicate, which specialised in printing fake documents of banks, government and corporate organisations said the syndicate had been using the cloned documents to defraud banks, government, corporate organisations and individuals.
He disclosed that some bank officials were cohort with the suspects for the crime.
According to the Commissioner, some the cloned documents included CBN, presidential clearance certificates, IMF and court documents.
He said: “I advise members of the public against cloned certificates, ATM card and other important documents currently in circulation. I want members of the public to keep their pin numbers, passwords and ATM safe. We have some documents recovered from one suspect arrested. We are investigating the documents and some bank staffers allegedly collaborating with the syndicate.
“It is only the bankers that have details of every deposit in the bank. Our investigation revealed that some bankers give information to the syndicate on how much customers have in every account. The syndicate cloned documents and transferred such money to another account, particularly; accounts with ATM cards are their easiest target.
“Many crimes are on in different banks, unfortunately, the bank management will not allow the public to know about it because they want to keep their customers trust.”
Okoro disclosed that the unit was able to detect some of the documents through the assistance of a foreign cyber security firm based in Lagos using forensic analysis equipment to uncover the identities of the syndicate members.
One of the suspects arrested, he said was currently in the hospital. According to him, the suspect collapsed during search of his house where many incriminating materials, including hard drugs were discovered.
“The suspect is a web site designer. He designed many of the cloned documents. We are on the trail of other members of the syndicate,” he said.
The Police boss pointed out that cyber crime has become a global challenge, adding that the unit was working with the foreign firm for capacity building for officers and men in the unit.
