EFCC raids homes of suspected internet fraudsters in Enugu

The South-East zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had raided two homes of suspected internet fraudsters in Enugu.

Acting Spokesperson of the commission, Mr Tony Orilade, who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, on Friday, named the suspects as Okechukwu Akachukwu and a couple, Onuora Edgar and his wife, Adaora, of Independence Layout, Enugu.

According to him, the raid was consequent upon the resolve by the Acting Chairman of the commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu, to intensify the fight against internet and cyber fraudsters across the country.

Orilade said, “Intelligence report gathered by the commission regarding some people living in opulence lifestyle without any known means of livelihood revealed that the suspects have been defrauding many unsuspecting victims of huge sums of money.

“This is through their nefarious operations and they used such to acquire choice properties across the zone.

“A search conducted on the houses and premises traced to the suspects revealed incriminating items which include a Mercury Fluorescent lamp used in detecting fake currencies.

“Other items include suspected counterfeited foreign currencies, telephone handsets and other items suspected to be tools of their despicable trade.

“Also recovered were a Toyota Venza SUV, ATM cards from various banks and an Apple Macbook laptop.

“The suspects will be charged to court as soon as investigations into the matter are concluded.”

He added that it had also arrested an Accounts Officer with Access Bank, Mr Ojo Adedoyin, for alleged fraud.

He said that the suspected connived with one Favour Oriafoh, 30, to defraud a Hong Kong female national, Xu Yue, of 79, 000 Pounds.

Orilade said that the arrest followed a petition received from the Hong Kong Police Force that the young lady was a victim of romance scam traced to Nigeria.

Admitting to the crime, Oriafoh who goes by the con name, Terry Mac, confessed that he opened a Facebook account in the name, just to defraud whoever fell prey to his baits.

“She had fallen in love with me as Terry Mac, a football agent,” Oriafoh said.

“Oriafoh thereafter took advantage of her love and defrauded her of the said amount, using the domiciliary account of one Adeyemi Adedeji.

“During interrogation, he confessed that the banker, Adedoyin, provided him with the domiciliary account information to which the money was transferred to.

“The agreement was that whatever funds were received through the account, the account officer and the owner of the account will be entitled to 15 per cent of the funds.

“The banker has made useful statement to the commission and they will soon be charged to court,” he said.