Ifeanyi Ukah and Adebayo Ridwan
The Economic Financial Crime Commission(EFCC), Lagos zone, on wednesday, arraigned a suspect identified as Aina Oluwajuwon for allegedly defrauding an another user.
The suspect was arraigned before the Lagos State Special Ofence court sitting in Ikeja,on a count of obtaining $400 from a victim, Maxson Kennard, under a “false pretence”, as a white lady, known as Jessica Conbard.
According to Isa Mustapha, a police detective attached to the anti-graft agency, the arrest was made after a verbal intelligence by a “good Samaritan” (name withheld).
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The intelligence led to a raid on 29 August, 2019, on the residence of suspected Internet fraudsters where he and 11 others were arrested in an apartment in Ijedodo Ijegun area of Lagos.
Mustapha also explained that as exhibits a Dell laptop and an IPhone 7 were recovered from the suspects, adding that the defendant was brought to the Lagos zonal office of the agency at No. 15a, Awolowo Road, Ikeja for more investigations.
In a statement, the detective said: “The defendant told me he is into Internet fraud, that he has benefited the sum $400 from a victim called Maxson Kennard, he created three email accounts; jessicaconbard234@gmail.com, awsome123@gmail.com and one other.”
“He told me that he engages in chatting with internet users and he disguises as a white lady to obtain favour, which is money from them.
“In the defendant’s presence, we printed out some documents he said to be false pretence from his laptop. He then endorsed, signed and dated on them. We examined his phone and found out about Jessica which he claimed to be, the pictures of a white lady used to chat with the victims and some iTunes cards he collected from the victims were on his phone. Also, fraudulent chat formats were found on his Whatsapp account.
“We printed out a photograph of a lady where the defendant had told his victim that he is suffering from menstrual pains and bleeding. He told the victim he had spent a lot of money on medication on his visits to many hospitals. He requested $370 from the victim, as to complete the treatment for them to live as couples. The victim further asked for more photos and video to show the extent of the bleeding and the suspect sent them.”
Mustapha, while addressing questions from the defendant’s counsel, I.O. Dada, told the court that the agency is yet to get any complaints from the victims, stressing that the office is working on contacting the victim but there has been no communication yet. He reiterated that after a verbal intelligence, the defendant confessed to defrauding the victim .
The presiding judge, Justice Sherifat Solebo,adjourned the case to January 16, 2020.
