The Cybercrime Section of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, on Thursday, submitted reports of forensic investigations led by
Whyte Dein to corroborate their case against singer Azeez Fashola a.k.a Naira
Marley, charged with credit card fraud before the Ikoyi Federal High Court.
Dein, the Chief Detective Officer of the Section told the
court that his team’s investigations revealed that the defendant was involved
in credit card fraud.
The artiste faced 11 charges bordering on alleged credit
card fraud contrary to Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and the Cyber Crimes
Act.
It was gathered that the singer committed these offenses
between November 26 and December 11, 2018, and May 10, 2018. He was arraigned
on May 20, 2019, but was granted bail.
At the resumed trial on Thursday, Dein, led in evidence by
EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, told Justice Nicholas Oweibo that they discovered
conversations on the defendant’s iPhone with one Raze who asked for a credit
card details.
He said, “One of our findings from the forensic report shows
the exchange of chat messages with several persons when the defendant sent
credit card details, including card numbers and expiration dates. Visa card
details were one of those sent by the defendant to a certain person known on
his contact list as Raze. This message sent Visa Card details to Raze, after
which Raze replied that the card was not valid.”
“We were able to establish through investigation the
previous messages he sent with a wrong card that was indeed not valid. We then
repeated the same process a second time which was now valid.”
Dein also explained that the singer used a multi-lingual
browser to access illegal networks.
He said: “The defendant used malicious tools to disguise the
identity and location of the user of the laptop when connected to the internet
along with the presence of the Top Browser which acted as a single gateway to
the dark net. This gave us a reasonable ground to suspect that the defendant
had been engaging in fraudulent card activities. And this was established
through a reply to our request to Visa Western Union Card.”
“The types of sites most commonly associated with the dark
web are marketplaces where illicit goods such as narcotics, firearms, and
stolen credit card numbers are bought and sold. The darkest corners are used to
hire hitmen, engage in human trafficking, and exchange child pornography.”
Another forensics expert, Buru Buhari had on October 3, 2019
during the proceedings, told the court that his investigations revealed stolen
card details issued by European, American, and Latin American banks from the singer’s
laptop.
Dein concluded by saying the investigations pointed out the
defendant’s involvement in cyber fraud. However, the defense counsel, Olalekan
Ojo, SAN, objected and said only the court could conclude.
The case was adjourned till July 13 for ruling on the points
raised, and July 15 for continuation of trial.
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