EFCC Operative Narrates How Stolen Credit Card Details Were Retrieved From Naira Marley’s Device

The Head of the Forensic Department at the Lagos Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Nuru Buhari on Wednesday told a Federal High Court in Lagos how various stolen credit card informations were retrieved from Azeez Fashola popularly known as Naira Marley laptop.

Buhari, who told the trial judge, Justice Nicholas Oweibo that he had had training with the South Korean police department and the FBI, also claimed that the website visit history recovered from the musician’s device showed that the top five most visited sites dealt with buying and selling stolen credit card information’s.

The EFCC operative was testifying as the first prosecution witness in the on going trial of Naira Marley, over allegations of conspiracy, possession of counterfeit cards and fraud brought against him by the anti-graft agency.

He, however, pleaded not guilty to the 11-count charge filed against him.

While being led in evidence by the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, Buhari told the court that during analysis, the cache file and history file revealed that the most frequently visited sites by the user of the computer includes arder007.org, Zuni.sa, nationwidecheckbalance.co.uk, ferunshop.net AMD cocoa.co.uk.”

“Analysis of the websites revealed that web 1 is where stolen card information is being sold to intending fraudsters.

Read Also: Naira Marley’s Fraud Trial Stalls, As Defence Demands Additional Proof Of Evidence

“Web 2 is for stolen credit cards specifically for the UK, web 3 is an online website designed for UK card holders to check their balance wherever they are around the world.

“Web 4 is a dark web meaning am underground tunnel in the internet where stolen credit card information are sold and traded.

“Web 5 is an online shopping mall where members are given discounts for shopping from certain shops,” the witness claimed.

He also informed the judge that stolen credit card information’s with special status that allows transaction up-to $12,000 without a pin or physical card was found in a file named select BIN 101.txt and .txt.

Buhari stated, “For the note file, two major files were discovered named .txt which contained about four credit card information belonging to four different personalities in the UK including one Nicole Louise. ”

“The second file is named selected BIN101.txt containing Bank Identification Number of European, American and Latin American banks. ”

“When we ran the BIN code search for the first six digits of the cards, it revealed they are Visa cards issued by Barclay’s bank, Sandander UK plc.”

“We identified that certain banks in US, Europe and Asia with certain peculiarities, these are banks that they issue credit cards without pins based on the high level of trust, they allow a transaction of up to $12,000 in a swipe on pos. ”

“Cards issued by those banks are card not required. All you need to execute a transaction is the card number and the CVV number,” he testified.

The witness further alleged that suspicious apps that are mostly used by people with shady deals on the internet were found on the laptop.

“We analysed installed apps on the laptop and we found two apps that enables the owner of the computer to decide the server of a bank as to his identity and location, IP VANISH and TOR browser.”

“The TOR browser is sometimes called the onion. Most of the criminals cover their tracks with various layers just like an onion using this app to make it near impossible for a tracker to track their location.”

“The IP VANISH is a virtual private network (VPN)  which provides that the actual computer and location of usage cannot be identified. It also gives the user the ability to change their location,” Buhari claimed

The witness also maintained that an analysis of the administrator account on the laptop revealed that the admin is one Naira Marley and the account was connected to his iCloud account.

During the course of the examination in chief, Mr Oyedepo tendered the request for the analysis of apple laptop mac book pro and an iPhone labelled by the court as exhibit A and B, a laptop mac book pro and an iPhone allegedly confiscated from the defendant which was labelled exhibit C and D,  and the forensic laboratory report prepared by Mr Buhari labelled exhibit E.

But Olalekan Ojo, counsel to the defendant asked the court for an adjournment to enable him prepare to cross-examination the witness.

He submitted that that most of the statements made by the witness are not in the documents provided by the prosecution and the defence is just hearing them for the first time.

Mr Oweibo adjourned till tomorrow, 24th October for cross examination of the witness.

The EFCC had arraigned Naira Marley before the court on an 11 count charge of conspiracy and fraud.

Naira Marley pleaded not guilty to the charge.

He risks seven years in jail if found guilty in accordance with Section 33 (2) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015.

Some of the credit cards, according to the anti-graft agency, bore Nicole Louise Malyon, and Timea Fedorne Tatar.

The alleged crimes were in contravention of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act and the Cyber Crimes Act.

4th October 2024
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