End of road for fraudsters issuing fake bank alerts

Two suspected members of a fraud syndicate, Olawumi Oladayo (25) and Chibuzor Ekesi (22) have been arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ibadan, in Oyo State Police Command during an attempt to use fake bank transaction to purchase a car.

 

Crime Reports learnt that the two suspects went to a car stand at Ring Road area of Ibadan at about 11.30 a.m. on Friday, December 12, 2014 to negotiate the cost of a Crosstour car.

According to the car dealer (names withheld) Oladayo and Ekesi said they wanted to purchase the car on behalf of their father. The dealer said: “I looked at them and felt they could not have had enough money to purchase the car they pointed at. The car was the most expensive I had at my car stand and had only 3,000 mileage. The selling price was N4.5 million."

“I told them that I would like to see their father and they asked if I would like to speak with him on phone. They called someone who claimed to be the father and he asked me to go ahead and sell the car to them. I wondered how someone would want to buy a car he had not seen or test-drive, but the man said he was comfortable with their judgement.

“The two boys said that they had cash on them, showing me a bag they were carrying. I noticed that the bag did not have the shape of one with cash and when I touched it, it was soft, so I refused. They promised to pay into my account. They asked me to fill the tank of the car before they would return but I said that it was the responsibility of buyers to do that after payment.

“However, I was not comfortable with them so I alerted the police.”

The suspects did not deny the allegation. According to Oladayo, “I went with my friend to negotiate the price of a car at a dealer’s car stand. My friend had already told me how we would send a fake bank alert to get the car. I wanted to know how he would do it and it would work. When we got to the car, he demonstrated the way he would do the sms alert and on our way from the place, I told him I would not be able to do it because the people would recognize my face.

“We were called back by the dealer and they asked if we were still interested in buying the car. They asked us to test-drive it and while we were waiting, SARS operatives came to arrest us.”

Oladayo claimed that he recently met the other suspect.

Confirming the story, the police image maker in Oyo State Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said that investigations were still on, while he advised members of the public to be wary of such sms and endeavour to confirm from their accounting officers before believing it emanated from their banks.

Click on ...NigerianTribune for more.