Police launch cybercrime reporting portal for ‘prompt’ investigation of suspects

As part of efforts to ease crime reportage for members of the public, the Nigeria police force has unveiled a cybercrime reporting web portal.

In a statement on Thursday, the police said the portal will enable prompt investigation, arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of cybercrime and other related offences.

According to the police, victims or complainants can now report internet-related criminal activities online, at any time and from any part of the world — the portal can be accessed here.

“The cases are promptly attended to by the cybercrime unit of the force domiciled with the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Force Headquarters, Abuja and the newly created Cybercrime Unit at the INTERPOL Annex, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos,” the statement read.

“The new portal will provide updates on achievements being recorded by the Nigeria Police and will, among other things, avail the citizens knowledge of basic cyber-related issues such as emerging cybercrime trends, the modus operandi of the cyber crooks and offer tips on how citizens could make themselves less vulnerable within the cyberspace.”

The force urged potential users of the portal to ensure that only correct and accurate information “devoid of deliberate falsehood, misrepresentation and misinformation” are provided when filing complaints.

Meanwhile, the police also said three suspects have been arrested by the cybercrime unit in Abuja.

The suspects — “Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere a.k.a. Ceeceeboss, Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a. Dozzy and Onuegwu Ifeanyi a.k.a SSGToolz” — were arrested following intelligence report received from the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) cybercrime directorate in Singapore on global attacks by Nigerian cyber gangs who engage in mass email phishing campaigns.

“Findings so far reveal that of the three suspects, Onuegwu Ifeanyi a.k.a SSGToolz specializes in creating, designing, selling of phishing links and hosting malwares on website used by the gang for phishing and hacking purposes,” the police said.

“He collects charges running into several millions of naira from other fraudsters he mentors and improves their phishing capabilities.

“Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere a.k.a Ceeceeboss TMT, a graduate of Business Administration from Imo State University specialises in business email compromise and hacking.

“A comprehensive forensic analysis reveals that he had in his laptop-computer over 50,000 email accounts and websites, including passwords of various individuals and corporate entities across the world.

“He recruited the third suspect Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a Dozzy, a medical student of Imo State University, into the gang. Ikechukwu Ohanedozie sorts and profiles e-mail accounts to determine financial strengths of prospective victims and passes on information obtained therefrom to Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere.”

The force added that all the suspects will be charged to court on conclusion of investigation and prosecuted in line with the Cybercrime Act, 2015.