Court remands Ecobank staff in Ikoyi prison over N2.4m cybercrime

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, on Friday, May 16, 2025, arraigned a banker, Solomon Stephen Ufayo, over an alleged cybercrime involving the sum of N2,404,000.

Ufayo, an employee of Ecobank Plc, was brought before Justice Yellim Bogoro at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrime.

According to the charge, between March 10 and 28, 2025, while serving as a Relief Teller at Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Ufayo allegedly impersonated a bank customer, Ogunfodunrin Omowunmi Ajoke. He was accused of fraudulently posting false deposit and withdrawal tellers on her Ecobank account (number 2801086259) with the intent to unlawfully benefit himself an act said to contravene Section 22(2)(b)(i) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the same Act.

Upon arraignment, Ufayo pleaded guilty to the charge.

Following his plea, the prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid L. Tukur, invited EFCC operative David Ngale Gajere to present the facts of the case. Gajere informed the court that Ufayo fraudulently carried out transactions by posing as Miss Ajoke, creating fictitious deposits into her account, and withdrawing a total of N2,404,000, which he transferred into his personal Opay account without her knowledge or consent.

Gajere further stated that the defendant made a voluntary confessional statement and issued a bank draft in the sum of N2,404,000 as restitution to the complainant. He also identified key evidence, including the extra-judicial statement, copies of the fraudulent bank slips, and the certified true copy of the restitution draft.

The prosecution sought to tender these documents as evidence, and they were admitted by the court and marked as exhibits.

Justice Bogoro subsequently adjourned the matter to June 6, 2025, for judgment and ordered that Ufayo be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending sentencing.