Hyacinth Chinweuba
Two graduates, Enohomfoh Osagie Favour and and Ebong Christopher, have been arrested by the police in an alleged case of conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence and internet banking fraud.
They were arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Police Command and the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
Favour and Christopher are said to be members of a notorious syndicate of fraudsters who specialize in calling unsuspecting members of the public and public servants, pretending to be bank officials.
They demand for the bank account number and ATM details.
On April 19, 2018, a complaint about this syndicate was received from a staff of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps.
He stated that he was called by the gang via GSM number 08084480521, requesting his account number and ATM details.
Based on this, he went to his bank, the First Bank, where he was told his account had been blocked due to the activities of the internet fraudsters.
Investigation into the case led to the arrest of Favour, a 2015 Parasitiology and Entomoly graduate of Nnamdi Azikwue University, Awka, Anambra State, and Christopher, a 2016 Computer Science graduate of Tansian University, Oba, Anambra State.
Both suspects are contract staff of Bright Star Limited, a company that deals with the verification of the biometric detail of the LSNC.
The suspects were arrested by a combined team of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad and operatives of the Lagos State Police Command.
Both have confessed that they had been using three GSM lines to operate.
While Favour owns 08162236163, Christopher uses 08084480671 and 07081301881.
They use these numbers to call civil servants of the Lagos State Government under the guise of assisting them, but they instead swindle them of their income.
A search was conducted and the Sims of the three GSM lines were recovered.
The Commissioner, Lagos State Police Command, Edgar Imohimi, who paraded the suspects, said they have confessed to the crime.
Imohimi, however, said information received from service providers revealed that GSM number 07081301881 was not registered as there was no user contact on it, hence the fraud syndicate prefers to use it to perpetrate fraud.