EFCC Arraigns Banker Over Alleged N2.4m Cybercrime in Lagos

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, on Friday, May 16, 2025, arraigned one Solomon Stephen Ufayo, a staff of Ecobank Plc, over an alleged cybercrime involving the sum of N2.4 million.

Ufayo, who worked as a Relief Teller with the bank, was brought before Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrime and fraudulent impersonation.

According to the charge, Ufayo was accused of fraudulently representing himself as Ogunfodunrin Omowunmi Ajoke, a customer of Ecobank, by posting false deposit and withdrawal transactions on her account between March 10 and 28, 2025. The account in question, numbered 2801086259, was allegedly manipulated to reflect fake deposits and unauthorized withdrawals.

The charge reads:
“That you, Solomon Stephen Ufayo, between the 10th to the 28th day of March, 2025, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while working for Ecobank Nigeria Limited as a Relief Teller, fraudulently represented yourself as Ogunfodunrin Omowunmi Ajoke, by posting false deposit and withdrawal tellers on her Ecobank account number 2801086259, with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(i) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention etc) Act, 2015 and punishable by Section 22(2)(b) of the same Act.”

Ufayo pleaded guilty to the charge.

Following his plea, the prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid L. Tukur, called EFCC operative David Ngale Gajere to review the facts of the case. Gajere told the court that Ufayo had impersonated the customer and posted false deposits into her account, from which he made unauthorized withdrawals totaling N2,404,000. The money was subsequently transferred into his own Opay account.

Gajere further revealed that the defendant had made an extra-judicial confession and issued a bank draft for the full amount as restitution to the complainant. The court admitted the statement, bank slips, and certified true copy of the restitution draft as exhibits.

Justice Bogoro adjourned the case until June 6, 2025, for judgment and ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending sentencing.