Juliana Francis
At least nine ladies, undergraduates and others were among 36 suspected cyber fraudsters recently arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibadan Office.
Acting Head, Media & Publicity, Mr. Tony Orilade, said that the suspects were arrested at 21, Sawmill Road Awa-Ijebu, Ogun State.
The suspects, who are between 19 and 37 years of age include: 23 students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, out of which nine were ladies. These ladies claimed to be girlfriends and neighbours of some of the suspects. There is another suspect from the National Open University of Nigeria and 12 others, who are not students.
Orilade said: “The Commission got wind of their activities through series of intelligence gathering, that the suspected fraudsters engaged in fraudulent activities of obtaining money by false pretences through sending emails to unsuspecting victims mostly in the United States of America while others were engaged in romance scam on several dating sites.”
He said that at this point of arrest, EFCC operatives recovered over 300 SIM cards from them. Other items recovered from the suspects include: different models and brands of exotic cars, 18 laptops, nine being of Apple brand, 50 telephones (21 iphones) and two bags of fetish objects (juju) from them. Several documents containing false pretences were also recovered from the suspects.
“Suspects would be charged to court accordingly as soon as investigation is concluded,” disclosed Orilade.
First Published 2018
