The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured 65 court convictions of fraudsters from January to Dec. 15 in Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States.

The Sokoto Zonal Commander, Mr Aliyu Yunusa, disclosed this to newsmen during an end-of-year event organised by the commission on Friday in Sokoto State.

Yunusa said the zonal command had surpassed its target of 50 convictions and attributed the successes to staff dedication, and support from sister agencies and other Community-based Based Organizations, CBOs and individuals.

He noted that most cases recorded were impersonations, involving the use of other peoples’ National Identification Numbers (NIM), receiving stolen monies, cloning of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards for third-party money withdrawal and defrauding individuals through pretences.

” The most important celebration is that we stopped various crimes, discovered numerous frauds and recovered funds from fraudsters within the year.

According to him, the zonal office is faced with manpower challenges and staff training on specialised cyber crimes as fraudsters use modern ways to swindle people.

” When incidents happen, we look at it with a forensic eye to block the loopholes and fast track investigations, thereby more sophistication is needed, ” the commander added.