Police Again Arrest Email Hackers from Nigeria

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian police have once again arrested a syndicate of email hackers from Nigeria that have caused losses to Indonesian and Singaporean companies. "On Friday morning, we arrested the two suspects of an email fraud case, which affected companies such as PT Primadaya Indotama, operating in furniture and automotive spare parts businesses in Jakarta," Director of Economic and Special Crime of the National Police Crime Investigation Department Brigadier General Arief Sulistyanto stated at a press conference here on Monday. He added that the company has a business partner in Singapore, the United Impact PTE Ltd, in metal and iron business, and the Singaporean company has ordered furniture worth Sing$312 thousand from PT Primadaya Indotama via email. The email address used by PT Primadaya Indotama for business communication was later hacked and changed from florence.feby@yahoo.com to feby.florence@yahoo.com by the hackers. "The suspects used an email address, which resembled that of the Singaporean company and issued an instruction for the payment to be forwarded to a certain account," he claimed. On December 30, 2013, Arief noted that the Singaporean company released a down payment through a BCA account worth Sing$127,000 or Rp1.207 billion, which was later traced to the address of the suspect, Alcock Jacqueline Nina. On January 8, 2014, Rp600 million of the total amount was withdrawn from a BCA branch in Menteng at 9 a.m. and it was later handed over at 1p.m. to the other suspect, John B alias Omoruyi Jim Aghaghowa, at the Sarinah Plaza in Central Jakarta. "On the same day, Rp610 million was re-disbursed and transferred to John's account through the BCA branch in Tanah Abang," he stated. Alcock received five percent or Rp60 million for her service. He claimed that while transferring the money, the Singaporean company had informed Feby of the Indonesian company about having made the first and second payments fully to the account given by Alcock. "Feby was surprised after knowing the facts because it was not his account, and he immediately contacted the BCA to block the money and reported the case to us on January 16," he added. Arief pointed that at 9 a.m. on January 18, 2014, Alcock was caught red-handed at the BCA branch in Menteng, while attempting to take the rest of the money, totaling Rp185 million, out of the account. In the meanwhile, John was arrested on the same day at the Bumiwiyata Hotel in Margonda, Depok. He stated that John was a Nigerian citizen, who had been residing in Indonesia since 1994 and has an Indonesian wife and four children, while Alcock is a citizen of South Africa who has been living in Indonesia since 2009 and is a widow with two children. Arief reported that they were all ex-convicts and were once jailed in Cipinang in 2011, for committing the same crime. He pointed that the police had confiscated a number of cellphones, a Honda CRV car, driving licenses, car registration documents, electronic limited stay permits, a wristwatch, a debit card, three 100 US dollar bills, Rp22.8 million in cash money, a laptop, a tablet, and other items for them. The two will be charged with violating the law on electronic information and the law on the prevention and eradication of money-laundering crimes and a Criminal Code. (*)