Dein Whyte, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, testified as the tenth prosecution witness in the trial of the Nigerian singer, Azeez Fashola, better known as Naira Marley, on Thursday before Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
By Robertha Beth
The witness described to the judge how Visa, a card payment platform, discovered fraudulent transactions connected to one of the credit card details found on the singer’s device.
This was announced in a statement that the organization posted on Facebook on Friday.
“As part of the findings from the investigation, forensic analysis revealed that malicious programmes used to illegally obtain credit card information were found on the device recovered from the defendant upon his appearance,” stated Whyte, the witness, in the presence of Bilikisu Buhari, the prosecution attorney.
According to the forensic analysis, the defendant’s arrested device contained malicious programmes that were used to obtain credit card information illegally. The card-not-present transactions were made easier by these programmes.
The investigator also discovered features on the device that, when linked to the internet, concealed the user’s current location. Whyte then went on to explain, stating, “On the defendant’s device, tools used to verify the validity, active state, and accuracy of credit card credentials, as well as the region of the card issuer, were discovered.”
The investigation also uncovered the websites the defendant visited, some of which involved the unauthorized trading of credit card details.
The witness revealed that Naira Marley’s credentials, name, and email address were registered on the phone and laptop that were found on him.
According to investigations, the singer shared credit card information with other people.
Whyte also made it known that the defendant’s device contained card details that were not issued by any financial institution and did not belong to him.
Olalekan Ojo, SAN, the defendant’s attorney, cross-examined Whyte and obtained confirmation from them that a Visa investigation had indicated the card had been reported for fraudulent transactions before.
However, Visa emphasized that it is a payment platform and not a telecom company and did not directly connect the credit card fraud to the defendant’s device.
