Ecobank staff arraigned for N2.4m cyber fraud

The Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), based in Okotie-Eboh, on Friday, May 16, 2025, arraigned Solomon Stephen Ufayo, a staff member of Ecobank Plc, over alleged involvement in cybercrime amounting to N2,404,000. He was arraigned before Justice Yellim Bogoro at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The one-count charge against Ufayo states that between March 10 and 28, 2025, while working as a Relief Teller at Ecobank Nigeria Limited, he fraudulently represented himself as a bank customer, Ogunfodunrin Omowunmi Ajoke.

According to the EFCC, Ufayo posted false deposit and withdrawal tellers on her account (number 2801086259) to gain financial advantage.

The charge is in violation of Section 22(2)(b)(i) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention etc.) Act, 2015, and is punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the same Act.

Upon the reading of the charge, Ufayo pleaded guilty.

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Following the guilty plea, prosecution counsel Abdulhamid L. Tukur called David Ngale Gajere, an EFCC operative, to present the facts of the case.

Gajere informed the court that Ufayo manipulated the customer’s account by posting fake deposits and subsequently withdrew the sum of N2,404,000, which he transferred to his Opay account using unauthorized withdrawal slips.

The EFCC officer also revealed that the defendant had submitted a voluntary confession, alongside a bank draft of N2,404,000 as restitution to the complainant.

The prosecution presented the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, copies of the fraudulent bank slips, and a certified true copy of the restitution bank draft. These documents were admitted into evidence and marked as exhibits by the court.

Justice Bogoro subsequently adjourned the case to June 6, 2025, for judgment, and ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending sentencing.