Interpol arrest Nigerian 'behind £45MILLION cyber hack', which is one of the world's biggest malware scams

A man behind an online fraud network which engineered scams worth more than £45million has been arrested in Nigeria.
The 40-year-old Nigerian, identified only as 'Mike', was detained in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt over claims he was behind a scam targeting hundreds around the world.

"In one case, a target was conned into paying out $15.4 million," Interpol said, indicating that the arrest was carried out with the support of Nigeria's anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). 

The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the United States," it said.

The suspect ran a network of at least 40 people working from Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa which used malware and carried out the fraud, and he also had money laundering contacts in China, Europe and the US who provided bank account details for the illicit cash flow.
A supplier's email would be compromised and fake messages sent to a buyer with instructions for payment to a bank account under the network's control, a police statement said. 
Or the email account of a high-level executive would be taken over and a request for a wire transfer sent to an employee responsible for handling such requests.

"Following his arrest in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria, a forensic examination of devices seized by the EFCC showed he had been involved in a range of criminal activities including business e-mail compromise and romance scams," it said. 

The suspect and a fellow fraudster, 38, who was also arrested in the city, face charges including hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences.

Source: Daily mail UK