MTN Loses N1.9 Billion to Hackers, Two Students Arraigned in Court
Two students, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola and Anthony Imonina Odemerho, were arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly hacking into MTN Nigeria Communication Plc’s computers and stealing airtime and data valued at N1.9 billion.
The Prosecutor alleged that the defendants conspired and accessed MTN’s Application Programming Interface (API) without authorization, obtaining data that they used to defraud the company. The offences contravene the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the four-count charge, and their lawyers filed bail applications. Justice Akintayo Aluko adjourned the case until August 5 for hearing of the bail applications.
The charges against the defendants include conspiracy, unauthorized access, and unlawful conversion, punishable under various sections of the Cybercrime and Money Laundering Acts.
The alleged hacking and theft occurred between January and April 2024, in Lagos and Edo states. The defendants are accused of selling the stolen airtime and data to the public and converting the proceeds to their own use.
One of the four-count reads:
“That you, Timothy Fashina Oluwabukola, Anthony Imonina Odemerho and others at large, between January and April, 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to intentionally and without authorization, gained access into MTN Nigeria Communications Plc computer system/network, with intent to obtain data from the said computer system/network, which you subsequently used to defraud the company (MTN) to the tune of One Billion, Nine Hundred Million Naira (N1,900,000,000), and thereby committed an offence, contrary to Section 27(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, but punishable under Section 8(2) of the same Act.
The case has sparked concerns about cybersecurity and the need for companies to protect their computer systems and networks from unauthorized access.
