A joint intelligence-led operation by the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), the Ghana Police Service and international law enforcement agencies has led to the arrest and prosecution of a Nigerian national linked to an alleged international cyber-enabled financial crime syndicate.
The suspect, identified as Aderinsola Oluwanifemi Adeleye, is said to have been a person of significant investigative interest to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over suspected transnational cyber fraud involving compromised United States bank cards.
According to investigators, the case began after the manager of the Haatso Shell Filling Station reported a complaint from Ecobank Ghana PLC regarding suspicious Point of Sale (POS) transactions conducted with two Citi Bank debit cards issued in the United States. Investigations traced the transactions to Haatso Shell and Osu Total filling stations.
Police arrested two fuel pump attendants who allegedly admitted that the suspect and another accomplice had repeatedly visited the stations to carry out fraudulent POS transactions. Adeleye was later arrested when he allegedly returned to Haatso Shell to conduct another transaction and was recognised by the attendants.
A search conducted at the time of his arrest reportedly uncovered a Beretta pistol loaded with two rounds of 9mm ammunition and a Citi Bank Visa debit card. A subsequent search at his office in Katamanso led to the recovery of 15 additional rounds of live ammunition and an empty shell casing.
The Cyber Security Authority disclosed that the suspect had already been under intelligence surveillance over alleged cyber-enabled financial crimes. Acting on that intelligence, police secured a court-issued search warrant and searched his residence at Oyarifa, where they seized mobile phones and other electronic devices believed to have been used in the alleged offences. The devices have been retained for forensic examination.
During investigations, the suspect allegedly admitted using the recovered Citi Bank debit card at both Haatso Shell and Osu Total filling stations. He reportedly told investigators that an individual residing in the United States had sent him the card with an available balance of about US$10,000, of which he claimed to have used approximately US$8,000 before his arrest.
Investigators further allege that the suspect, working with accomplices still at large, colluded with fuel station attendants to process fictitious fuel purchases using stolen or compromised debit cards before receiving cash instead of fuel. Ecobank Ghana confirmed it had received a fraud complaint from Citi Bank through Visa International concerning the unauthorised transactions.
Authorities also believe proceeds from the alleged fraud were used to acquire significant assets, including a four-bedroom house, a cement block manufacturing factory at Katamanso, a Nissan ZNA pickup truck and other properties suspected to have been purchased with illicit funds.
Law enforcement agencies say investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest other members of the suspected criminal network, trace additional assets and establish the full scale of the alleged fraud. The suspect has since been formally charged and arraigned before court, while forensic analysis of the seized electronic devices continues.
