A 28-year-old medical doctor, Michael Thompson Williams Ujowhzi, who became a hacker to defraud Nigerian banks was on Monday arrested by the Lagos State Police Command.

This was made known when the state Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, paraded the suspect, who had worked with frontline hospitals in Lagos, before journalists.

The Punch reports that the suspect has been on the wanted list of the police since he boasted of his exploits as a hacker, and took a swipe at the country’s banking system, describing it as the easiest to hack, including government-owned account.

Michael mentioned a multiple awards winning American Hollywood actor, John Travolta, as one of his victims, disclosing that his account was being monitored through a programmed device, where cash running into millions of US dollars were diverted weekly.

Police investigation revealed that the suspect, who has mastery of the cyber café environment, created credit cards of deceased foreigners through cyber Ghost 12.

It was gathered that after the credit cards mature, it would be funded through a hacked Swiss account and then any transaction done by genuine accounts owner through Swiss account would be manipulated by the suspect and wired to his contrived credit card.

Reports said after a successful transaction, the suspect would buy posh cars and send fake alerts to the dealers.

Luck, however, ran out on him in March after he bought a Porche car worth N28 million from a car dealer, Abidogun Adewale, in Lagos and sent him a fake alert before making away with the car.

However, on getting to the bank to collect the money, Adewale, discovered that no money was paid.

When the suspect was asked how he did it, he said he used HTTPtunnel.com to send such fake alert.

The suspect revealed that during such payment, the amount would reflect on the seller’s account at that moment, even if he visited his bank to confirm the payment, but it would disappear after one hour.

Police traced three vehicles he bought through such process to Asaba, Delta State, and Owerri, Imo State. The plate numbers on the three vehicles read HRM OGUEZI 1, II and III, respectively.

Imohimi said the police received a petition against the suspect, who he described as a “professional hacker.”

He said,

“My office received a complaint that there is a syndicate that buys exotic cars and configures a computer programme that sends a fake payment alert to the seller.

“The seller, upon receiving this alert, verifies the alert either through ATM or through Internet banking and then releases the car to the syndicate.

“In this case, when the car dealer went to his bank for his statement of account, it was discovered that the alert and transfer of N28m to his account was only a fake electronic transfer; the money did not register in his account.

“The modus operandi of this suspect is very interesting because he seems to have a very good mastery of the cyber environment. He also creates a credit card through software known as cyber-ghost 12. When the credit card matures, it is then funded through a hacked Swiss account. Any transaction anybody is doing through this Swiss account, the suspect manipulates it and wires the fund into his contrived credit card.

“The interesting part of this report is that the hacker has the ability to shut down the CCTV system of any organisation here in Nigeria for a period of 67 minutes. That is a window period during which any crime can be committed.”

Imohimi said the case was of importance to financial institutions, adding that Nigerian banks should employ certified hackers to secure their systems from hackers.

Speaking with journalists, the suspect said,

“I have worked in three Lagos hospitals. The issue with Nigeria is that when they see that you are better, they look for a way to ease you out. After I was sent out, I secured a visa to Canada, where I acquired hacking expertise.”

He said his mode of operation involved, “creating a credit card or getting old credit cards online and funding them after monitoring transactions of Swiss code accounts of anybody making $1m or above $200m transaction.

He said,

“I monitor movie actors and actresses in the US. I monitor a particular actor, who is based in America (US). He transfers money every week. I hacked into his Swiss code account, which involved breaking of 360 codes.

“I divert funds online into a secured credit card which I use to buy any kind of powerful software online and get more knowledge online.”

Michael said he had access to customers’ bank accounts and used their money for spending sprees with his credit cards.

He also said as a hacker, he could do anything online, adding that he bought goods worth not more than N30m with credit cards and made false payments in bits to unsuspecting victims.

The suspect said,

“Banks in Nigeria are not like banks abroad.

“In Nigeria, you can sit down and do any kind of transfer. There are no certified hackers in banks here; there is nobody to secure you.”