Police arrest Nigerian over cyberattack targeting Microsoft 365 users

A suspect

The Nigeria Police Force has announced the arrest of a Nigerian, Okitipi Samuel, over his alleged involvement in a cyberattack that targeted Microsoft 365 users across multiple countries.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the outcome of investigations carried out by the National Cybercrime Centre of the Nigeria Police Force.

Hundeyin said the centre, under the leadership of its Director, Commissioner of Police Ifeanyi Uche, commenced investigations in collaboration with Microsoft, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency.

According to him, investigations revealed that a phishing toolkit known as “Raccoon 0365” was used to create fake Microsoft login portals to harvest user credentials and unlawfully access email accounts belonging to corporate organisations, financial institutions, and educational institutions in several countries.

“This investigation commenced following credible intelligence received from Microsoft USA through the FBI, indicating that a malicious phishing toolkit known as Raccoon0365 was being used to create fake Microsoft login portals, harvest user credentials, and unlawfully access the email accounts of corporate organisations, financial institutions, and educational establishments,” Hundeyin said.

He added that between January and September 2025, several reports of unauthorised access to Microsoft 365 accounts were traced to phishing emails designed to mimic legitimate Microsoft login pages, enabling business email compromise, internal phishing, data breaches, and other cyber-enabled fraud.

Hundeyin said digital forensic analysis and cryptocurrency tracing identified wallets connected to the illegal operation.

He noted that operatives were deployed to Lagos and Edo states, leading to the arrest of three suspects identified as Joshua, James, and Okitipi Samuel between September 20 and October 4, 2025.