A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday heard that stolen
credit card information issued by European, American and Latin American
banks were retrieved from a laptop allegedly belonging to musician,
Azeez Fashola popularly known as Naira Marley.
An Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) forensics expert, Mr Nuru Buhari told
Justice Nicholas Oweibo that some of the credit card information
belonged to four persons in the United Kingdom (UK) including one Nicole
Louise.
Buhari testified as the EFCC’s first prosecution witness in Marley’s alleged card fraud trial which began on Tuesday.
The
witness, who was led in evidence by EFCC counsel Mr Rotimi Oyedepo,
alleged that apart from the stolen information, the website visit
history recovered from the device showed that the top five most visited
sites dealt with buying and selling of stolen credit card information.
Buhari
said: “During analysis, the cache file and history file revealed that
the most frequently visited sites by the user of the computer includes
arder007.org, Zuni.sa, nationwidecheckbalance.co.uk, ferunshop.net AMD
cocoa.co.uk.”
“Analysis of the websites revealed that web 1 is
where stolen card information is sold to intending fraudsters, web 2 is
for stolen credit cards specifically for the UK, web 3 is an online
website designed for UK card holders to check their balance wherever
they are around the world, web 4 is a dark web meaning an underground
tunnel in the internet where stolen credit card information are sold and
traded, web 5 is an online shopping mall where members are given
discounts for shopping from certain shops.”
He said stolen credit
card information with special status that allows transaction up-to
$12,000 without a pin or physical card was found in a file named select
BIN 101.txt and .txt.
The witness added: “For the note file, two
major files were discovered named .txt which contained about four credit
card information belonging to four different personalities in the UK
including one Nicole Louise. ”
“The second file is named selected
BIN101.txt containing Bank Identification Number of European, American
and Latin American banks.
“When we ran the BIN code search for
the first six digits of the cards, it revealed they are Visa cards
issued by Barclay’s bank, Sandander UK plc.”
Buhari testified
that an analysis allowed his team to identify “certain banks in the US,
Europe and Asia with certain peculiarities, these are banks that they
issue credit cards without pins based on the high level of trust, they
allow a transaction of up to $12,000 in a swipe on pos.
“Cards
issued by those banks are card not required. All you need to execute a
transaction is the card number and the Security number. ”
According to him, suspicious apps that are mostly used by people with shady deals on the internet were found on the laptop.
He
said: “We analysed installed apps on the laptop and we found two apps
that enables the owner of the computer to decide the server of a bank as
to his identity and location, IP VANISH and TOR browser.
“The
TOR browser is sometimes called the onion. Most of the criminals cover
their tracks with various layers just like an onion using this app to
make it near impossible for a tracker to track their location.
“The
IP VANISH is a virtual private network (VPN) which provides that the
actual computer and location of usage cannot be identified. It also
gives the user the ability to change their location.”
The court
heard further that an analysis of the administrator account on the
laptop revealed that the admin is one Naira Marley and the account was
connected to his iCloud account.
During the hearing, Oyedepo
tendered the request for the analysis of the Apple Mac book Pro laptop,
an iPhone allegedly confiscated from the defendant and the forensic
laboratory report prepared by Mr Buhari. Justice Oweibo adjourned till Friday for cross examination of the witness.
Fashola,
popular for his “Am I a Yahoo Boy” and “Soapy” tracks, is being
prosecuted by the EFCC on an 11-count charge of conspiracy, possession
of counterfeit cards and fraud.
His co-defendant is one Yad Isril, said to still be at large.
The defendant was arraigned on May 20, 2019, but pleaded not guilty.
He secured N2 million bail with two sureties in the like sum.
According
to the charge, the defendant committed the offences on different dates
including November 26, 2018, December 11, 2018, and May 10,
Fashola and his accomplices allegedly conspired to use different Access Bank ATM Cards to defraud their victims.
They allegedly used Access Card number 5264711020433662 issued to other persons, in a bid to obtain fraudulent financial gains.
Fashola
was said to have possessed these counterfeit credit cards, belonging to
different cardholders, with intent to defraud, and which also
constituted theft.
The offences contravene the provisions of
Section 1 23 (1) (b), 27 (1}, 33, 33(9) Cyber Crime (Prohibition)
Prevention Act, 2015.
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