Nigeria, Jan. 29 -- The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) said its National Cybercrime Centre (NCCC) uncovered a large-scale cyber-enabled fraud involving the illegal diversion of a telecommunications company's airtime and data resources, with estimated losses of N7.7 billion.

According to a statement by police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin, six suspects were arrested in connection with the alleged theft.

The police said the syndicate was exposed following a petition by a Nigerian telecom operator, which reported suspicious and unauthorised activities within its billing and payment systems.

Subsequent investigations, the police said, revealed that "internal staff login credentials had been compromised, granting threat actors unlawful access ...