In Togo, an alleged cybercriminal was arrested by the Research and Investigation Brigade of the General Directorate of the National Police (BRI-DGPN).
According to what the Police Nationalethe individual in question is a cybercriminal who managed to defraud more than six hundred and twenty-eight million eight hundred thousand CFA francs (628,800,000F) between January 2019 and March 2023. The victims are generally foreign companies and humanitarian organizations.
“For him, everything was fine until his last victim, a Spanish company, seized the National Police to investigate a transfer of three thousand (3000) euros made to the bank account of an alleged law firm. referred to as ‘ESSENTEX PARTNERS AND LAW FIRM’,” a police memo reads.
The investigations revealed that the said law firm does not exist and that the transfer of three thousand (3000) euros was instead made to the bank account of the company ESSENTEX, belonging to the cybercrook, a second-hand clothing dealer of nationality Nigerian and residing in Lomé.
“When questioned, the latter admitted to being part of a vast and well-organized network of cybercriminals. They use false administrative documents to deceive the vigilance of their victims. They then make them juicy business proposals in Togo. Once the companies or organizations express their interest in the business proposal, they are put in contact with a fictitious law firm in Lomé which invoices false fees for services to the victims. As soon as the false fees are paid, these cybercriminals do not hesitate to find another fallacious motive to extract more money from their victims or to simply break off all contact”, informs the Togolese police which invites the population to be more vigilant and encourages them to denounce to the security forces, those individuals who engage in this criminal activity likely to discourage foreign investors.
Investigations are continuing with a view to arresting the other members of this cybercriminal network whose members share the defrauded funds which are also used to finance other criminal activities.
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