THIRTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Adegboyega Michael, the leader of the fraud
syndicate which was allegedly involved in the transfer of money from
bank customer’s 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 leader’s 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 customer’s 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.
