Olukoyede has updated the Interpol on EFCC cybercrime convictions in Nigeria.
NaijaOnPoint Nigeria reports that the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has said the commission had secured 500 convictions in cybercrimes in the last few months.
Quoting a consultant, he said cybercrime has assumed the third largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world.
The EFCC chairman said the commission would not give up because cybercrimes have become organised threats to the development of nations.
A statement by the spokesman of the commission, Mr. Dele Oyewale, said Olukoyede said this when he hosted a delegation from the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol).
He said: “EFCC, apart from the police, is one of the prominent, specialised anti-corruption agencies in Nigeria that has the mandate to investigate cybercrimes, and we have been doing that.
“In the last few months, we have secured over 500 convictions in cybercrimes. Over the years, we have had cause to collaborate with (America’s) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the (United Kingdom’s) National Crime Agency (NCA) and other prominent law enforcement agencies in the world in the area of combating cybercrime.
“We are much ready to do more and also to encourage the heads of the world to give access to information.”
Olukoyede restated the EFCC’s commitment to the fight against cybercrimes, stressing that they have become organised threats to the development of nations.
The leader of the delegation, Mr. Craig Jones, explained that Interpol was working as a neutral law enforcement agency with private partners across the world to detect and break criminal networks serving fraudsters.
He said: “I think many countries now recognise that cybercrime is actually a national security threat to countries. This goes hand in hand with financial crimes because the main motivation of cybercrime normally for the criminals is that financial gain and the impact that it makes on the countries and our communities is massive.”
Jones stressed that Interpol had continued to identify countries with criminal networks in order to assist them to break such networks.
He added that a CyberCrimes Convention was being negotiated with the United Nations Organisation (UNO) to draw global attention and commitment to fight the menace.