Police operatives in Kaduna have burst an Internet fraud syndicate that duped Kaduna State University (KASU) students of about N60 million.

The police arrested the syndicate of three internet fraudsters who were notorious for defrauding unsuspecting students at KASU of their tuition fees.

The arrested suspects were Muhammad Uthman Busari of Nariya Kaduna, AbdulAzeez Hamza of Hayin Dan-mani Kaduna, and Noel Nims Audiya, who were mainly cybercafe operators that compromised the students’ registration portal and took undue advantage of students who chose to pay their fees online rather than via the normal banking platforms.

Spokesperson of the Police in Kaduna, ASP Mansir Hassan, explained that “the suspects often collect tuition fees from students in full but will pay a lesser amount into the state’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) and go further to intercept and manipulate the electronic transaction receipts from the TSA to read complete payment.”

“So far, the suspects have shortchanged over three hundred students of KASU, and the total amount involved is put at over sixty million naira, which the principal suspect Muhammad Uthman Busari have used in building and furnishing a house, purchase of a car, electronic appliances, gadgets and plots of lands in both Kaduna and Kwara States.”

“The suspects have since been charged to court for prosecution. To checkmate activities of computer-related crimes in the State, the Kaduna Police Command wishes to inform members of the public of the newly established cybercrime unit by the Commissioner of Police, CP A.D. Ali, psc which is targeted at investigating cybercrime-related offences.”

“Thus, victims of social media account hacking, fake purchase alerts, deceptive social romance, cryptocurrency, and forex frauds, among many other offences within the state, should forward their complaints to the Commissioner of Police through the newly created unit for diligent investigation,” Hassan added.