Sonny T. Mallari
LUCENA CITY—Two Nigerians and their Filipina cohort were arrested Wednesday for allegedly hacking a bank account of an Indian national, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 4-A reported Thursday, August 11.
Brigadier General Antonio Yarra, PRO 4-A chief, identified the suspects in a report as Nigerians Samuel Nomso Esomchi, 42; Taye John Bamidele, 40; and their local accomplice, Gladys Francisco, 47.
Francisco was arrested first at around 2 p.m. after she tried to withdraw P400,000 remittance money for the account of the Indian businessman, who lives in Bacoor, Cavite, at a China Bank branch in San Pedro City, Laguna.
Without Francisco’s knowledge, the remittance had been red-flagged by the bank’s central office as “hacked and a possible fraud.”
The bank manager alerted the security guards and the local police, which led to the arrest of Francisco.
In the follow-up operation, the police arrested Esomchi in a gasoline station while Bamidele was collared inside a shopping mall.
The two were found with P1,400,000 cash suspected to have been withdrawn from hacked bank accounts.
The three suspects were detained and face criminal charges for swindling/estafa and violating the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
In a statement, Yarra said: “Isa nanamang kahanga hangang aksyon ang ating nasaksihan mula sa ating kapulisan, sa kanilang pagtutulungan para maresolba itong kriminalidad na ito”.
He added: “Asahan ninyo na ang inyong PRO Calabarzon ay handang umagapay sa inyo at maglingkod ng tapat, may puso at malasakit sa lahat ng ating kababayan na nangangailangan ng aming tulong.”
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