NBI nabs five in Pampanga for alleged involvement in BDO hacking incident
THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday announced the arrest of five members of the “Mark Nagoyo Heist Group,” including two Nigerian nationals, for their involvement in the hacking of the country’s largest bank, BDO, which affected more than 700 customers late last year.
At a news briefing, NBI Officerin-charge eric Distor identified the suspects as Ifesinachi Chukwuemeka Peter nwadi, Fountain Anaekwe, (alias Daddy Champ), Jherom Anthony Taupa, ronelyn Panaligan and Clay revillosa.
They were arrested in simultaneous operations in Pampanga last January 18 by operatives of the nbi’s Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD).
Taupa, who is believed to be one of the masterminds of the nagoyo heist Group, was arrested in an entrapment conducted on January 18 in Floridablanca, Pampanga.
he was arrested while selling “scampage” or phishing web site, particularly an imitation of Gcash web page to an NBI informant.
An informant said Taupa modified the code in order to gather the log in details of unwitting victims, who will access scampage in the belief that they were opening Gcash’s official portal.
The owner of the scampages would then be able to get into their victim’s Gcash accounts to steal their hard-earned funds.
“The buy-bust operation was then conducted wherein information and subject Taupa agreed on the price of P2,000 to be paid in cash direct as consideration for the scampage. The operation resulted in the arrest of subject Taupa after receiving the marked money. Taupa admitted that he was selling Gcash scampage which he stored in his computer,” the NBI reported.
On the same day, Anaekwe and nwadi were arrested in Mabalacat, Pampanga after the NBI-CCD received information from a person who had transactions with the two foreigners.
The informant, according to the NBI, voluntarily appeared before the NBI-CCD to give information regarding several individuals believed to be members of the Mark nogoyo heist Group.
Based on initial reports, the group was able to access the accounts of BDO’S more than 700 customers while bypassing the one-time-pin (OTP) requirement and the drained funds from those accounts.
e-mail confirmation for the bulk of the illegal transfers showed that they were made by a certain Mark nagoyo.
“According to the informant, subjects were engaged in the business of providing access devices to anyone looking for options to cash out funds fraudulently obtained. These access devices range from bank accounts, crypto, wallets, or even point-of-sale terminals of otherwise legitimate merchants,” NBI said.
“Further, when a certain Mark Froilan called the informant about money cash outs, the latter contacted ‘Daddy Champ’ who then said that he will provide the informant three different accounts so she can be transferring in it P10 million each, apparently referring to the funds from BDO alluded to by Mark Froilan,” it added.
Armed with the information provided by the informant, the NBI conducted an entrapment operation against the two nigerians who were caught in the act of offering accounts for sale.
Also arrested in separate operations by NBI-CCD were Panaligan and revillosa who were also involved in the BDO hacking as web developer and downloader.
The suspects have been subjected to inquest proceedings before the Department of Justice (DOJ) for trafficking in unauthorized access devices under Section 9 of ra 8484 or the Access Devices regulation Act of 1998 and for misuse of devices under Section 4(a)(5)(i)(aa) of ra 10175, also known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.