JAMB registrar: How we lost N10m to hackers of ad-hoc staff payment portal
The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said the board lost more than N10 million in 2020 to fraudsters.
Oloyede told newsmen at the board’s headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja that the fraudsters penetrated the board’s payment portal for ad-hoc staff.
He said that the money, which was meant to pay JAMB Adhoc staff from the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, was hijacked by the suspected fraudsters.
Oloyede, however, said that the board investigated the illegality, tracked, and finally apprehended 10 of the suspects in Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Abuja.
“We did not ask anyone to apply to be an ad-hoc staff on the site, we had already chosen them through recommendations from various agencies.
“We only created the site just to pay them via a code that was assigned to them.
“However, these suspects gained access to the site, deleted the original account details and phone numbers, and inserted theirs.
“We paid N20, 000 each for accommodation per night and N100, 000 for flight tickets, depending on the location of each staff to go and work for that period.
“The payments ranged from N200, 000 to over N300, 000 per person. Yet, these suspected fraudsters after gaining access to the websites also inserted details for their family members.
“They didn’t go to partake in the exercise but ignored the messages sent from our domain.
“One of them, Saidu Zubairu collected over N3.7 million for himself because he inserted the account details of his mother, sisters, and other family members.
“We have not calculated all the monies they all have so far received but altogether, the amount will definitely sum up to more than N10 million.
“We have already paid the original owners, though it took us over a year to track the suspects, we finally apprehended them and I assure you the law will take its cause.’’
Oloyede reiterated the board’s readiness to fight corrupt practices in its system, adding that some of the illegalities had prompted changes in the board’s mode of operations.
Mr Saidu Zubairu, one of the 10 apprehended suspects said that he got the code for the site through his friend (presently at large) and indulged others.
He said, “I succeeded in changing the original details in the site and asked eight other friends of mine to do same and they confirmed receipt of payment afterwards.”
Zubairu said that he added the details of 12 family members to the site who were also paid above N300, 000.
He, however, pleaded that they are forgiven while promising to reimburse the money if given sufficient time.
