Adegboyega Michael, 38, the leader of the fraud syndicate which was allegedly involved in the transfer of money from bank customers account in a first generation bank (name withheld) through the connivance of a bank staff member, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command.
Michael (38) was arrested on August 26, four months after the police had been looking for
him.
Crime Reports learnt that a female banker
(names withheld) whose password was used
to access a bank customer’s account details
lodged a complaint with the Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, that
she was falsely accused of fraud in her office.
The owner of the account who was based in
London had lodged a complaint with the bank
when he discovered that money in his account
had depleted.
The police commissioner reportedly forwarded
the petition to the Rapid Response Squad on
April 19 and by the following day, four suspects were arrested. Those nabbed included Ezurike Peter (35) who was a staff member of the bank in which the account of the victim was domiciled, Ayo Olalekan (32), Ochenehi Israel (31) and the gang leaders wife. A manhunt was also launched for the syndicate leader, Michael.
The syndicate’s modus operandi, according to
police sources, was to increase the limit of a bank customer’s account after Peter, who was
an insider, would have got the customers details and phone number by using his
colleague’s password to access it. The phone
number of the account holder would also be
blocked temporarily from receiving debit alert
while the limit of his/her financial transaction
would be upped to N200,000.
To achieve this, a syndicate member, Israel,
would go to the bank where the targeted
account was domiciled to fill a form to
increase the daily limit on the account. He
would not wait but would drop the form,
saying he would be back. Once the name and
phone number tallied, the bank would act, not
knowing that the account details had been
compromised by their staff.
To ensure that the owner of the account did
not suspect anything, the syndicate would
have held the line of the owner so that he or
she would not have network on his phone to
receive debit alert.
Israel was said to be very skilled in his role
and the members were getting N200,000 daily
which was usually shared equally, with each
syndicate member getting N50,000.
They were said to have taken N600,000 from
an account in three days and N2 million from
another in 10 days.
Michael, also reportedly used his wife’s
account into which his own share was
transferred. The syndicate leader who had
been on the run was eventually arrested on
August 26 and transferred to the Special Anti-
Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos State, for further
investigation.
In an interview with Crime Reports, Michael
confessed to committing the crime but gave
reason for his action. According to the
suspect, “it is true I was arrested in
connection with fraud. I joined the syndicate
after I was also defrauded to the tune of N4.7
million. Some people approached my auto
shop and said they wanted to buy a car. They
paid me with fake dollar notes. Later they told
me they were a syndicate and what they did
was a game.”
When asked whether he was collecting dollars
as payment for cars purchased from him,
Michael replied that he wanted to help the
‘customers’ change the money to naira. “I also
got bank alerts that indicated payment of cash
into my account in addition to the dollars. I
believed that the transaction was successful so
I handed the car over to them. It was when I
got to the bank that I was told that the dollar
notes were counterfeit.
“I had nothing again. Along the way, I saw a
friend called Harrison and he brought me into
the (fraud) business. He said that if I would
follow him, I would see how the business was
being done. We did the business on mobile
phones by transferring money from an
account in a bank to another. It was usually
achieved through an insider, a friend of mine,
Peter who worked in that bank. I told him and
he said we should go ahead. I have now learnt
my lesson,” Michael spoke further.
When contacted, the police image maker in
Lagos State, SP Dolapo Badmus, confirmed the
arrest and said that the suspect would be
charged to court at the completion of
investigations.
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