A former bursary staff member at Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, has been arrested by police after a fee payment audit indicted her as the mastermind of a N457,508,645.00 fraud that spanned three academic sessions and implicated 11 staff members and 320 students.

The Acting Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Oyesoji Aremu, disclosed the findings in a statement on Monday, confirming that the suspect, who resigned from the university in April 2025, had been arrested by the Ondo State Police Command.

According to the statement, the fraud covered the 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026 academic sessions, during which 320 students were induced to pay their school fees into the personal account of the former staff member rather than through the university's official payment portal.

"About 320 students paid a total sum of N457,508,645.00 in school fees into the personal account of the said lady, who, in turn, fraudulently cleared such students on the portal without the university receiving the money. Many of the students were lured to pay into her account with offers of discounted fees and commissions," the statement read.

The suspect allegedly operated with the support of 11 staff members and 34 students who served as recruiting agents, drawing other students into the scheme. An external individual employed at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, was also identified as having participated as an agent.

Investigators found that the group hacked into the university's student payment portal, fraudulently clearing the accounts of affected students to allow them to obtain financial clearance, while the institution received none of the payments.

Professor Aremu noted that all 320 students who made payments through the fraudulent channel, along with the six student agents, would appear before the Students' Disciplinary Committee. The 11 staff members implicated as agents would face the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee.

The audit exercise, which required every student to appear before an investigative panel, is ongoing, with payments made by graduates of the last two academic sessions also to be scrutinised.

"We have the approval of Council to exhibit absolute transparency in handling the investigation and dissemination of information to the university community, to eliminate rumour mongering and misinformation," the statement concluded.

Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer, Abayomi Jimoh, confirmed the arrest of the principal suspect.