The Nigeria Police Force has arrested seven suspects over alleged cybercrime activities across Lagos and Anambra states.
The suspects are linked to alleged cryptocurrency fraud, business email compromise, money laundering and identity theft.
Police also accused some of the suspects of involvement in investment fraud, impersonation, blackmail and romance scams.
Akaninyene Ezima, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, disclosed the arrests during a briefing in Abuja.
One suspect was arrested at Megamound Estate in Lekki, Lagos, following a request from Germany.
German authorities reportedly sought the preservation of data linked to an IP address used in alleged email fraud.
Police said forensic checks uncovered over 12.5 million email logs linked to victims across more than 50 countries.
Investigators also traced the suspect’s BVN to accounts across six financial institutions and fintech platforms.
A Mercedes-Benz AMG GLC 43 was reportedly recovered during the investigation.
Police alleged that the suspect used phishing tools to access Microsoft 365 accounts.
Investigators also claimed he made more than N100 million from the alleged operation.
Another suspect, described as a technology company owner, was arrested in Agiliti, Lagos.
Police linked him to an alleged international investment fraud and money laundering scheme.
According to investigators, two victims reportedly lost N56.3 million after investing through a WhatsApp trading platform.
Police said cryptocurrency transactions involving USDT through Bybit’s peer-to-peer system were traced to about N3.6 billion.
The N3.6bn crypto fraud investigation also extended to Anambra, where two suspects were arrested.
They were accused of conspiracy, identity theft, impersonation and computer-related fraud.
Police alleged that the suspects posed as a government official through WhatsApp and Facebook.
Several registered and unregistered MTN and Airtel SIM cards were reportedly recovered.
An MTN toolkit was also recovered during the operation.
The police said investigations are ongoing to establish the full extent of the alleged crimes.
