By Idris Ahmed, Ilorin
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) Ilorin Zonal office has arrested a thirty eight year old Nigerian, Festus Akinyemi Abiona, allegedly indicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) of the United States over his involvements in internet fraud.
Abiona had been on the wanted list of the Commission for more than eight months over the alleged fraud case before luck ran out of him and was finally arrested from his hideout.
The Anti Graft body was able to fish him out last week, Wednesday, 6th of February 2020 in his beautifully built duplex in Arepo Ogun State despite his refusal to step out of his house since he got wind of the EFCC/FBI case for the past five months for fear of being arrested but as the slogan of the EFCC says that ‘Wherever you are, EFCC will get you’
In the petition dated 10th of July 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigations alleged that the suspect was involved in business email comprises (BEC) and other computer enabled fraud.
The petition stated further that ” In may 2016, the FBI received information that an actor or actors bypassed online security to steal money from retirement accounts held by an insurance company for Public Workers in the United States, which resulted in the loss of approximately $2,500, 000″
Investigation into the case by the Commission revealed that the person behind the business email compromise is Festus Akinyemi Abiona and his syndicate of which millions of naira have been traced to his bank accounts and some of the emails used in perpetrating the fraud have been taken over from the suspect.
The petition explained further that ” The accounts contained numerous communications between Abiona and other criminals co-conspirators seeking to commit business email compromise ( BEC), Tax Refund Fraud, and other Computer enabled fraud ”
It was gathered that the Suspect on sighting the operatives of the EFCC flushed all his sim cards into the toilet and destroyed all his Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) cards in order to destroy evidence
Even though the suspect has refused to make statements since his arrest, the anti graft body is making efforts to arraign him in court.
