The chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has shared an incident where a 17-year-old successfully hacked into his personal computer and bank account while being questioned at the EFCC office in Lagos.
Olukoyede disclosed that he invited the young hacker to his office for questioning, saying the teenager was able to bypass the security measures on his locked computer with ease.
The EFCC chairman disclosed this during a conversation with editors at the EFCC headquarters in Jabi, Abuja.
He said: “I brought into my Lagos office a 17-year-old boy who is studying History and Anthropology. He is in the 200 level. He is not doing anything science-related. The guy sat in my office in Lagos and demonstrated some things to me on my laptop.
“He asked for my number, I gave him my number and through my number, he got my BVN. He then mentioned the name of my account number to me at the bank. I didn’t tell him anything.
“The problem is, I see crime in that, and I also see opportunities in it. So, if you leave these guys, we don’t make them know that what they are doing is wrong, if you leave them, they will continue to see it as a way of life to make money.
“We plead for light sentences so that we can reorientate them and that’s part of what we’re doing. What joy will I derive from sending a 17-year-old boy to jail? You have destroyed his future. You have destroyed his career.
“Sometimes they give them options of fines and all of that conviction, so we bring them in, lecture them and talk to them.”
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