Stolen UK, US banks’ credit card among evidence allegedly found in Naira Marley’s laptop

At the resumed trial of Naira Marley over an alleged credit card fraud at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos today October 23, the Economic and Financial Crimes tendered evidence they found in Naira Marley’s laptop after his arrest which includes stolen credit card information issued by European, American and Latin American banks. 

The credit card information reportedly belonged to four persons in the United Kingdom (UK) including one Nicole Louise. EFCC’s forensics expert, Mr Nuru Buhari who testified in court said the top five most visited sites on the laptop dealt on buying and selling of stolen credit card information. He also revealed that a file named select BIN 101.txt and .txt. had stolen credit card information with special status that allows transaction up-to $12,000 without a pin or physical card. 

“During analysis, the cache file and history file revealed that the most frequently visited sites by the user of the computer includes arder007.org, Zuni.sa, nationwidecheckbalance.co.uk, ferunshop.net AMD cocoa.co.uk.”

“Analysis of the websites revealed that web 1 is where stolen card information is sold to intending fraudsters, web 2 is for stolen credit cards specifically for the UK, web 3 is an online website designed for UK card holders to check their balance wherever they are around the world, web 4 is a dark web meaning an underground tunnel in the internet where stolen credit card information are sold and traded, web 5 is an online shopping mall where members are given discounts for shopping from certain shops.

“For the note file, two major files were discovered named .txt which contained about four credit card information belonging to four different personalities in the UK including one Nicole Louise. 

“The second file is named selected BIN101.txt containing Bank Identification Number of European, American and Latin American banks.

“When we ran the BIN code search for the first six digits of the cards, it revealed they are Visa cards issued by Barclay’s bank, Sandander UK plc” he said. 

Buhari further disclosed that his team was able to identify “certain banks in the US, Europe and Asia with certain peculiarities, these are banks that they issue credit cards without pins based on the high level of trust, they allow a transaction of up to $12,000 in a swipe on pos.

“Cards issued by those banks are card not required. All you need to execute a transaction is the card number and the CVV number. ”

Buhari also told Justice Oweibo that suspicious apps that are mostly used by people with shady deals on the internet were found in the laptop. 

He said: “We analysed installed apps on the laptop and we found two apps that enables the owner of the computer to decide the server of a bank as to his identity and location, IP VANISH and TOR browser.

“The TOR browser is sometimes called the onion. Most of the criminals cover their tracks with various layers just like an onion using this app to make it near impossible for a tracker to track their location.

“The IP VANISH is a virtual private network (VPN) which provides that the actual computer and location of usage cannot be identified. It also gives the user the ability to change their location.”

The Nation reported that the court also heard how Naira Marley’s iCloud account is connected to administrator account on the laptop. 

Justice Nicholas Oweibo adjourned the case till Friday October 25 for cross examination of EFCC’s witness, as Naira Marley’s counsel Olalekan Ojo requested for a survey of the Apple Mac book Pro laptop, an iPhone allegedly confiscated from the defendant and the forensic laboratory report prepared by Mr Buhari.