3 men using fake gold to scam people land in police net in Edo

The suspects identified as Osaretin Osagiede Odion, Sunday Akhikhu, and Patrick Mamah were nabbed by operatives of Edo Police Command.

Disclosing the arrest of the trio, Edo Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chidi Nwabuzor said the suspects specialised in hypnotising and using fake gold and diamond to defraud their victims in Benin City, the state capital.

He explained that operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping and Cyber Crime Unit, while acting on credible information, intercepted a Toyota Yaris, with registration number AUC 761 SK, conveying the three suspects on Lagos Street, Ring Road axis of Benin City. 

“Upon searching the vehicle, one fake diamond, and the Toyota vehicle were recovered from them,” he added.

He said the suspects made statements and confessed to being a syndicate of serial fraudsters who specialise in hypnotising and using fake diamonds to defraud victims. 

In a related development, Justice Ibrahim Keraye of a Kano State High Court convicted and sentenced two fraudsters, Benjamin Udeagwu and Benjamin Olamide, to three years imprisonment for internet-related offences.

In a statement posted on Wednesday via its official social media handle on X (formerly Twitter), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the two were jailed after separately pleading guilty to a one-count of internet fraud upon their arraignment by the Kano Zonal Command of the EFCC.

The anti-graft agency stated that Olamide in 2022 at Kano, Kano State, dishonestly induce unsuspecting victims to deliver to him a total sum of $500 as Terry Vince who lives in United States of America (USA).

EFCC argued that Olamide’s move was an offence of cheating, which it noted was contrary to Section 320 of the Penal Code Law of Kano State and punishable under Section 322 of the same law.