Judge lost N7.2m child’s school fees to Yahoo boys — EFCC

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has narrated how suspected internet fraudsters, popularly known as Yahoo boys, emptied the bank account of a serving judge overnight, stealing more than N7.2m.

He said the money was the judge’s savings over six years to pay for her child’s education.

The EFCC chairman disclosed this on Friday at the public presentation of two books authored by retired High Court judge, Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye.

According to him, the judge said the stolen money represented years of sacrifice towards funding her child’s education.

Olukoyede said the judge called him around 1 a.m. after multiple debit alerts woke her from sleep, appealing to the commission to intervene before the money disappeared completely.

“She had just been scammed of the money she had been putting together for six years to send her child to school. She said alerts woke her up. She received debit alerts at that time of the day. Before she knew it, she had been scammed of about N7.2m,” Olukoyede said.

He said the incident happened in a state where the EFCC had previously been restrained by a court order from investigating certain financial crimes, but noted that the judge pleaded with the commission to intervene immediately.

“Incidentally, it was the state where they got an order against the EFCC restraining it from investigating certain crimes. I said, ‘My lord, I have an order, an injunction restraining me from investigating financial crimes in that state.’

“She said, ‘No, no, no! This is an exception. You must do something immediately!’” he recounted.

Olukoyede said the commission tracked the funds and recovered the entire amount before the close of business the same day.

“Before 6 p.m., we recovered the entire money for her. I am very sure that if an application comes before her to stop the EFCC from carrying out its mandate, she will dismiss it because she has become a victim.

“So, it is important for us to understand the depth of this problem,” he said.

The EFCC boss said the growing threat of cybercrime required the cooperation of security agencies, the judiciary and members of the public to effectively tackle internet fraud.

“Not until we, as Nigerians, come together and agree to face this challenge, law enforcement agencies playing their role, citizens doing their part, and the judiciary too doing its part, it is only then that we will be able to put this problem behind us. We can do it. Nigeria can do it, and we will do it and succeed,” he added.

Olukoyede also said the commission had begun deploying artificial intelligence tools in criminal investigations but stressed the need for legal reforms to make AI-generated evidence admissible in court.

“Now we have already started deploying the tools of AI in the investigation of crime. But what I am cracking my brain about is how to generate evidence and make it admissible?

“This is because now we talk of a robot. Is a robot a human being? Being an electronic device doing the work of a human being, robots can now think for you. Robots can do anything human beings can do.

“So we are looking at that area. I wish our legislators and professors of law will take time and come together to look at this area and come up with laws that will help us in the area of AI,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, urged the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies to intensify efforts to recover public funds allegedly stolen and stashed abroad.