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| OGUNSAKIN |
The Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police, has arrested two members of staff of a new generation bank, an undergraduate and another suspect, in connection with Internet fraud worth over 50,000 dollars.
The bank suspects who were officials of Skye Bank PLC, and the student, a 400-level undergraduate of Imo State University, who was the mastermind where nabbed after two years of successfully dabbling in fraud.
It was gathered that the four suspects who were identified as Uche Akobundu, Nnamdi Dike , Olawale Ogunniran and Sani Ismaila, had in the last two years targeted their victims who were mostly females citizens of America.
The bankers, Ogunniran and Dike of Allen Avenue and Owerri Branch respectively , reportedly assisted the mastermind in withdrawing the money , without following due process.
Confirming the arrests, SFU Public Relations Officer, ASP Ngozi Isintume-Agu, said the arrest was as a result of a petition from one of their victims, a US national, Amelia Brosick.
According to the SFU spokesperson, Akobundu had used a pseudo-name, Devon Miles, to lure his victim into a relationship , before duping them of their money
As at the last count, she said Akobundu had reportedly succeeded in collecting the sum of 16,439 dollars from Amelia, before it occurred to her that she had fallen prey to a fraudster.
Other victims of the suspect include :Jettie Simpson , Shelly Bashir , Billie Klock and Aurea Desena, who collectively sent almost 30, 000 dollars to Akobundu in the last two years.
She said preliminary investigations by the unit which is headed by the Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, revealed that Akobundu had lied to his victims that he was 49 years old and that he was in Nigeria for business transactions.
Although he admitted to have committed the crime, Akobundu while speaking to journalists, said he did not achieve anything worthwhile with the money as it all frittered away.
On his modus operandi, he said “ I started browsing the dating site three years ago, posing as a United states of American citizen who resides in Nigeria. At that time, it was a common game around my area in Ikeja. Along the time I met these ladies who were looking for husbands.
"They fell in love with me because of my profile, where I stated that I was an engineer and a 49 year-old divorcee in search of a wife. Along the line, I would tell them I was stranded in Nigeria and needed some money to travel back to US and they would send the money via Western Union money transfer.
" At other times, I would tell them that my daughter was sick and that I needed money to offset her hospital bill and they would fall for the trick. I have never used charm to hypnotize any of them."
He added, "My parents were never aware of what I was into because anytime I got a reasonable amount, I would travel to South Africa and squander the money. My regret is that I never used the money realised for anything tangible, so as not to raise suspicion. "
But one of the bank staff, Dike denied knowledge of the deal, stressing that he was only doing his job as a front line teller staff of the bank, adding that he had never at any time paid above the stipulated amount.
He said, "Anytime he came to collect the money, he would give the correct question and answer, including the secret code. Mine is to ascertain whether the details corresponded with what is in the system at the end of which I would hand his money over to him. He merely tipped me with N1000 or N2000 for the service, just like some bank customers.
While noting with dismay the increasing incidence of cyber crime crime in Nigeria, the CP called on Nigerians and foreigners to report any suspicious fraud on the internet by visiting the unit website on info@specialfraudunit.org.ng
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