Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has described how a 17-year-old child mesmerised him with his cyber fraud talents.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the EFCC chairman claimed the boy was able to interpret his banking credentials, including the bank verification number (BVN), by merely knowing his cell phone number.
Olukoyede said:
“I brought in a 17-year-old who is studying History and Anthropology. He is not doing anything science. He sat there in my office in Lagos and demonstrated something to me on my laptop.”
“He asked for my (phone number) number and through it, he got my BVN. He mentioned the name of my account without me telling him anything.”
Olukoyede said the commission is not interested in sending internet fraudsters to jail but in rehabilitating them for better purposes.
“On our own, we plead for a light sentence for them, so we can reorientate them.”
“What joy will I derive from sending a 17-year-old to jail? You would have destroyed his future, you would have destroyed his career. Most times they are given the option of a fine.
“We bring them back, lecture them and talk to them. This particular boy, when I asked him why he does what he does. He said both of his parents are farmers and could not go to the farm because of insecurity.
“He is the one feeding his parent. He is the one responsible for the tuition of his younger ones.
“In as much as I want to do my job, I saw a Bill Gates in the guy. I told him If he gets out of this, I will personally take responsibility for his schooling.”
He added that EFCC is setting up a cybercrime research centre where internet fraudsters will be reoriented.
“Now we are coming up with what we call a cybercrime research centre as a part of the projects in our new academy where we would bring some of these boys during vacation, the way they are capturing them, the way we have 419 training schools.”
“We are going to come up with a hub that would help us channel those skills towards positive things.”
In March, Olukoyede stated that the agency intends to rehabilitate convicted cyber fraudsters with reduced penalties.
He told a delegation from the National Association of University Students (NAUS) that rehabilitation would be an effective strategy to realign offenders’ brains and divert their creative energies to beneficial pursuits.
