Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
The Ondo State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has arrested two persons, Maxwell Lakoju and Adejumo David for alleged involvement in internet fraud.
The suspects were said to belong to a bank account trading syndicate that had been defrauding the people of the state.
The state NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Daniel Aidamenbor, in a statement, on Tuesday, said the suspects were arrested by the Counter Terrorism Unit of the command.
According to the statement, the suspects fraudulently obtained account details of his victims allegedly for criminal use.
The statement read, “Maxwell Lakoju and Adejumo David have been arrested by the Counter Terrorism Unit of the Command for fraudulently obtaining account details for criminal use. Both suspects have confessed to being involved in buying and selling bank accounts from unwary members of the public under various guises.
“Investigation activities began when one Mr Oluwole, a car dealer alleged that the sum of N1,500,000 paid into his United Bank of Africa (UBA) account was stolen by cyber criminals overnight.
“A forensic analysis of the UBA statement of account of Mr Oluwole revealed a certain Palmpay account El-Saeed Yusuf 9133771898 received a sum of N200,000 from the N1,500,000 stolen from the account of Mr Oluwole and the balance sum used for online purchases.
“The Zenith Bank account, Sampson Onyenebe received the entire N200,000 from the Palmpay Account of El-Saeed Yusuf while another account, John Yobg Dadd 7025128574 at Firstmonie equally received other sums from El-Saeed Yusuf Palmpay account.
“Sampson Onyenebe who was arrested in Owerri, Imo state claimed that he met Maxwell Lakoju a.k.a Ifa Dollar on Facebook in 2022 and they discussed and agreed on how Maxwell would assist him with metaphysical power for wealth.”
The PRO further explained that Onyenebe paid several thousands of naira through an account belonging to David and he also handed over Automated Teller Machine cards and personal identification numbers of about eight bank accounts belonging to himself and his wife to Lokuju.
“The arrest of David Adejumo led to the arrest of Maxwell Lakoju in Auchi, Edo State. Both suspects confessed to obtaining the bank accounts and their details including the ATM cards by courier from Sampson and his wife.
“Both suspects also confessed to have equally obtained and procured details of other bank accounts from other individuals and sold same to persons whom they claimed usually place regular demands for such.”
He stated that the investigation was still ongoing to determine the involvement of bank officials and information technology professionals in the cybercrime activities.