Man uses fake bank alert to steal N5m
Wale Olaide
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested a suspected fraudster, Wale Olaide, aka Wale Dollar, for using a fake bank credit alert to defraud a bureau de change operator, Abdulhamid Abubakar, of N5m.
EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson
Uwujaren, said the suspect, who was an expert in defrauding
unsuspecting victims through fraudulent bank credit alerts, contacted
Abubakar’s younger brother, Hashim, also a bureau de change operator
based in Lome, Togo, that he wanted to purchase N5m equivalent in CFA.
He said, “Olaide requested for his
(Hashim) Nigerian bank account to enable him to pay in the naira
equivalent. Hashim asked Abubakar to send his First Bank account details
to Olaide.
“Abubakar sent his account details and
later received an alert supposedly from his bank that N5m had been
credited to his account. Upon receiving the alert, Abubakar informed
his brother, who in turn released the CFA equivalent of N5m to Olaide.”
It was learnt that when Abubakar
visited the bank to withdraw the money the following day, his account
balance did not reflect the transaction. He subsequently reported the
incident to the EFCC.
Wilson said, “A series of investigations
led to the arrest of Olaide who is believed to be a member of a
syndicate involved in duping unsuspecting members of the public through
fraudulent bank notification alerts.
“EFCC is working to unravel the network
of operations of the syndicate. But members of the public should be wary
of this new trend in crime by fraudsters who use phony credit alerts to
defraud people.”
