The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered an additional 30-day freezing of 818 bank accounts suspected of being involved in the alleged proceeds of crime from an N10 billion cyberattack on Hope Payment Service Bank.
The order, which the Inspector General of Police authorises, was granted by the court presided over by Justice James Omotosho on Monday, October 15, 2024.
The court relied on a motion ex parte filed by the police.
818 bank accounts identified in cyber attack
According to the motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1358/2024, filed against James Akagwu Isaac, Akwubo Gosent, and others, including several banks, the IGP’s legal team said that the accounts via which the defendants were alleged to have received the crime proceeds were under investigation, hence the freeze.
In a deposed affidavit by Mohammed Idris, a member of staff of the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Abuja, the IGP’s office filed the Managing Director of/Chief Financial Officer on behalf of Hope Bank, reporting a crime case, criminal diversion of funds, and conspiracy against one of the defendants.
Idris disclosed that a police investigation revealed that the bank lost N10 billion to the attack.
The police boss explained that it had submitted the freezing order to various financial institutions involved. R
Zenith, GTBank, others beef up cybersecurity
In July, Legit.ng reported that Hope PSB averted a cyberattack on its banking platform and recovered billions of naira in the intended attack.
Recently, Nigerian banks have upgraded their core banking platforms to boost their cybersecurity and secure depositors’ funds.
Commercial banks’ tech upgrades in the past few weeks have caused severe concerns to customers, sending panic into bank customers in rural areas.
The situation is set to get worse as more banks announce that they will be upgrading their technology infrastructure in the coming weeks.
Source: legit.ng
