Suspect arrested in college email probe

Law enforcement authorities have arrested a man in connection with online payment requests made to a number of international students who were registered at a private college in Nicosia.

According to police, a Nicosia male resident was apprehended on Wednesday afternoon at Larnaca International Airport, where law enforcement agents tracked him down prior to his scheduled departure overseas.

Local sources described the suspect as a 27-year-old man from Zimbabwe, accused of conning several foreign students who were enrolled at a college in the capital.

Police did not say whether the suspect had any connection with the college in question, while an official report said investigators were looking into alleged cyber crimes including internet fraud, illegal access to secured data, online theft, and illegal gains.

According to police, the investigation began after an international student consultant who works at the college filed a complaint saying he had received a suspicious message on his work email that asked him to submit personal information and passwords.

It was alleged that the suspect used the employee's passwords to gain access to a list of names of foreign students who were enrolled at the college.

Students point investigators to email from college

Police said a number of international students had received misleading messages from an email account at the college, instructing them to deposit money into a bank account that belonged to the suspect.

A Nicosia district judge ordered the suspect remanded in custody for eight days.

Police did not specify the nationality of the foreign students involved or whether they were from the same country as the suspect.

In the past, there have been allegations of unofficial recruitment activities whereby visa agents were accused of working with local networks in defrauding foreign nationals on the island.