Juliana Francis
Ogbona and Kehinde
Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Ikeja,
Lagos State Police Command, have arrested two men, who specialised in cheating
customers by swapping genuine phones and money with fake ones.
The two suspects, Chukwu - Emeka Ogbona (45) and Olabode Kehinde (34), both mobile phone technicians at the Computer Village, Ikeja, were arrested at Olowu Street, Ikeja in separate incidents.
According to the Police, both suspects were in the habit of advertising expensive mobile phones at cheaper prices on jiji.com, using it to lure buyers to places where they dispossess them of money in exchange for fake mobile phones.
One of the suspects, Ogbona, explained that the leader of the gang is one elusive “Ibrahim.”
He said that Ibrahim used to advertise on jiji.com and supply them with genuine and fake Iphone X. The genuine Iphone X is N240,000, while the fake is an android phone made to look like an Iphone X, which cost N30,000.
Ogbona also said: “The Iphone X was advertised for N155, 000. The buyer negotiated for N120,000, but knowing what I wanted to sell to him, I encouraged him to meet me at Olowu after changing meeting locations twice to ensure that we were not being baited by the police. I showed him the genuine Iphone X for him to confirm it while the fake was in my back pocket. I took the real one back from him again for us to settle our bargain. Meanwhile, I had arranged with other gang members to come around and distract the buyer so as to create room for me to swap the genuine Iphone X with the fake version. This I did, and we shared the victim’s N120, 000. The police arrested me on the third day of the transaction.”
He further stated: “Times are hard. I had stopped doing it before, but I went back to it because I needed money to feed my family. We are many doing it. We call it street hustling. I won’t go back to it if I’m released.”
The police, explaining the syndicate modus operandi, said: “The two are members of same syndicate advertised Iphone X, a phone valued at N240,000 for N155,000 to lure buyers into their nets. The suspects, along with other gang members used to lure buyers to locations around Olowu Street and Computer Village, Ikeja, where they fraudulently collect money from them after showing them genuine phones. They substitute it with fake Iphone X. The suspects thereafter flee the scene leaving their victims stranded.”
While fielding questions from the operatives, the suspects disclosed that aside from advertising on jiji.com, they also fraudulently sell fake mobile phones on the streets of Computer Village to unsuspecting buyers as well as return fake or paper money to their victims after collecting genuine money from them.
The second suspect, Kehinde was arrested by the Decoy Team of RRS for collecting N100,000 and an Iphone 6S from one Obinna, who he lured to Computer Village after agreeing to swap them for a Iphone X but ended up fraudulently giving him a fake Iphone X.
Kehinde further confessed to being a member of the same syndicate.
No comments:
Post a Comment