A serial fraudster who impersonated the Inspector General of Police and duped an Asian doctor has been arrested.
A 29-year-old man said to be a serial fraudster, Ekperebuike Akadonye, has got his hands burnt after he was arrested for allegedly impersonating the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and defrauding a Saudi Arabian doctor.
Punch reports that Akadonye who was arrested by the Inspector-General Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT), scammed the doctor identified as Hassan Alkahallaf, of the sum of $10,000.
The unsuspecting Alkahallaf was said to have earlier been defrauded by some other Internet fraudsters in Nigeria on two different occasions and all efforts to get his money back had proved abortive.
It was gathered that Akadonye had contacted Alkahallaf and introduced himself as the IG and promised to help the doctor recover his money but that he (Alkahallaf) should pay him the sum of $10,000 to facilitate the legal processes of the recovery and the victim was said to have paid the sum into Akadonye’s account in instalments.
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A police source narrated that when the victim realized he has been scammed a third time, he contacted the Inspector General of Police through the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Nigeria, leading to Akadonye's arrested.
“The suspect contacted his victims, including Hassan (Alkahallaf), who is attached to the Department of Urology, Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, via an email address, igofnigeria@outlook.com, purportedly belonging to IG Ibrahim Idris.
He claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari, in his fight against corruption, had directed the IG to make refunds to victims who had been defrauded by Nigerians in the past.
The doctor replied to Akadonye’s emails, believing he was the real IG of the Nigeria Police Force, and he eventually paid him $10,000 in installments to get back his lost funds.
He lied to the doctor that he would use the money to hire a lawyer who would represent him since he wasn’t based in Nigeria,” the police source said.
Akandoye's downfall, according to the police, started in October when the SIRT team trailed him to Imo State where he hails from and apprehended him.
During interrogation, the suspect allegedly confessed to the fraud, saying he took to the crime after his shops were demolished by the government.
“I am a trader and I had shops in Mbano, Imo State. But they were demolished by the government. One of my friends introduced me to Internet fraud.
I started by searching for prominent persons on the Internet. When I found Dr. Alkahallaf, he told me he had some funds trapped in Nigeria and he wanted to claim them.
I presented myself to him as the IG and told him the President had mandated me to assist fraudsters’ victims to get back their lost funds. I asked him to pay for a lawyer. He believed and paid me.”
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The police source added that the IG has instructed that the suspect should be investigated thoroughly, all the money recovered and charged to court to serve as a deterrent to others.
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