Reporting by The Punch indicates that Nigerian police uncovered a telecommunications fraud scheme involving the illegal diversion of airtime and data valued at N7.7 billion. Six suspects were arrested after an investigation into alleged compromise of a company’s internal systems to reroute digital assets, which were then liquidated through underground channels.
The scale of the alleged theft has renewed calls for stronger cybersecurity controls in the telecom sector and tighter internal governance to reduce insider and vendor risks. Police said investigations are ongoing to determine whether additional collaborators exist within the industry.
Daily Post also covered the arrests and Channels TV framed the incident as one of the largest digital-asset related thefts in recent memory—amplifying calls for stronger data protection and enforcement.
Echotitbits take: As Nigeria digitizes payments and services, insider-enabled cybercrime is becoming a systemic risk. Expect regulators (including the NCC) to push tougher baseline security requirements—especially around privileged access, audit logging, and incident response disclosures.
Source: Premium Times – https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/852943-police-uncover-n7-7-billion-telecom-fraud-arrest-six-suspects.html 2026-01-29
Photo Credit: Premium Times
