Before he met his waterloo
some months ago, 30-year-old
Hope Olusegun Aroke lived in
the elite 1004 Housing Estate,
Victoria Island, Lagos. Aroke,
an undergraduate in a
Malaysian university, had the
world at his beck and call, as
he could afford just about anything that meant class. For
him, provision was probably just another successful scam
away. And the race to maintain the social status that
fraud had allegedly earned him could never end. In his
garage was a fleet of posh cars and SUVs, all of
Mercedes-Benz brand. Though a tenant, he successfully
outshone the status of his co-residents. To many, the
young man had done well for himself by a dint of hard
work. In some sense, Aroke was working hard, but as a
suspected serial scammer. His busy neighbours barely
noticed his unusual schedule, but many were irked by his
exceptional flamboyant lifestyle. Most times, when
neighbours were out to work, Aroke stayed indoor in
company with other young men, who were later discovered
to be his fraud cell suspects.
These young men included his apprentices and internet
scam partners. The operation that marred Aroke’s
merry-making living would have shot up his net worth by
several notches. Going by the revelation of the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, he had successfully
carried out the scam operations worth N55m on
unsuspecting members of the public. He, however,
became unfortunate while trying to conceal the nature of
the proceeds by converting it to foreign currency in
partnership with Ibrahim Tafida, a Bureau de Change
operator. He was eventually nabbed by the team of the
EFCC in Lagos. Last year, 25-year-old Sunkanmi Odewale,
a 200-level undergraduate of Mechanical Engineering,
Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, a suspected
fraudster, breezed into an automart and bought a Toyota
Venza for N4m. Before, he was picked up in Ibadan, Oyo
State, three months ago, he was alleged to be notorious
for regularly swindling unsuspecting members of the
public via the internet. His N4m Toyota Venza was the
latest of his collections of luxury toys allegedly acquired
from the proceeds of cyber crimes. He, however,
forfeited it and other valuables worth millions, whichi
were seized during the arrest.
The EFCC said he was currently facing prosecution. Other
kingpins in cyber crime in Ibadan, Oyo State, according to
EFCC, are 300 level students, Olowofola Tolu and
Ekundayo Damilola, both of Lead City University, Ibadan.
They are studying Economics and Computer Sciences
respectively. They were alleged to be the brains behind
successful cyber crimes in the state before they were
arrested around Oluyole Estate extension in Ibadan. Both
of them made good money from the business such that
they paraded exotic cars among other things. Other boys
believed to hold the area in terms of cyber crimes
operations and training of intending members according to
EFCC are Adelabu Kolawole, HND II student of
Purchasing and Supply Department, Ibadan Polytechnic
and Bankole Fisayo, Ordinary Diploma II student of
Marketing Department, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree.
Their valuables running into tens of millions of naira were
seized by the EFCC, which said that they were all being
prosecuted. Investigation revealed that more young
people particularly undergraduates, now have the
wherewithal to afford luxury items such as exotic cars,
live in hotels for weeks, buy classy homes and throw lavish
parties where expensive brands of wines and spirits are
offered. They also travel to choice countries of the world
and frolic with the hottest girls in town. They live in such
affluence that will make an average worker with decades
of meritorious service cringe. WE learnt that usually, they
are undergraduates, predominantly young men enrolled to
study different courses in both Nigerian and foreign
tertiary institutions.
These undergraduate scammers and internet fraudsters
are the current toast of their various campuses. Their
friends, course mates and distant admirers, especially
the ladies, all wish to grab a portion of their well-
advertised wealth. Using the internet and other
information and communication, these savvy youths, often
successfully dupe greedy people. Laptops, mobile
telephones, flash drives, external hard drives, printers
and so on, are their work implements. Since they usually
don’t operate from an identifiable office or from fixed
residential addresses, they cart away many people’s
financial fortunes forever without pointing a gun or being
physically present. They operate most times through a
network of connections across country borders, making it
possible for a person to fall victim at any location.
Investigation revealed that the colony of internet
fraudsters, also known as Yahoo Yahoo, is growing to
match the dynamism in information and communication
technology. This also poses greater challenge to crime
detecting agencies in Nigeria such as the EFCC. During
some sting operations based on internet-prompted
information, the EFCC recently arrested another five
suspected fraudsters in Enugu State. They are: 27-year-
old Uche Nwakor; 30-year-old Oluchukwu Ejikeme; 28-
year-old Ifeanyi Ejikeme; 30-year-old Nnamani
Ikechukwu; and Ibe Kodili.
They were arrested at their expensive houses at No 26
and 42, Chimaobi Uba Street, GRA, Enugu. The team is
said to be “serial scammers,” having defrauded several
victims. Items seized from them where they were
perfecting how to get the next victim are: eight exotic
cars, nine laptops, 21 mobile phones, internet routers,
drivers’ licenses and international passports. Two months
ago, the game was over for notorious internet fraudster,
Wale Olaide, who specialised in defrauding members of
the public through bank credit alerts. Popularly called
Wale Dollar in his clique, he had great tentacles as his
business transversed the shores of Nigeria. Although he
had successfully executed bigger deals, which had earned
him a comfortable life, he came crashing over a N5m deal
involving two brothers Abdulhamid Abubakar, based in
Nigeria and Hashim Abubakar based in Togo.
They are both into BDC business. Under the pretext that
he wanted to do genuine business with them, he contacted
the Togo-based operator, asking for his Nigerian bank
account number, which he authorised his brother to give
him. Olaide was supposed to pay in N5m to purchase the
CFA Francs equivalent. But when he got the account
details, rather than send the money as agreed, he sent a
false credit alert notifying the BDC operators that his
account had credited at the Seme border branch and so
he released the equivalent to him. He was shocked to find
out the next day that his bankers couldn’t trace such
payments made into his account. The EFCC said it took
investigative initiative to arrest Olaide, who it described
as “a member of the deadly syndicate involved in duping
unsuspecting members of the public.” It described
fraudulent credit banking notification as a new trend in
criminality by fraudsters and warned the public to be
careful. The EFCC Ag. Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson
Uwujaren, told Saturday PUNCH that it was not in the
character of fraudsters to buy lands or build houses.
He said, “They seldom even buy houses or have permanent
addresses because of the nature of their activities. They
often spend money on exotic cars, throw parties and
generally squander the money on things that are not
fixed. All the people arrested for such crimes are usually
made to face the law.” Uwujaren said there were signs
that could put one on the guard. “If for instance
somebody you have never met in person begins to pester
you about your personal banking details online, chances
are that the person may be a potential scammer. “Also
when a total stranger begins to make business proposal
that look too good to be true, you better watch it,” he
said. He said a good number of scammers had been
prosecuted and jailed; others had to flee the country to
neighbouring countries.
He however said that there was still more work to be
done. He said EFCC’s conviction profile was dominated by
internet and advance fee fraud cases, adding that the
Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offenses Act
2006 prescribed a minimum of seven and maximum of 20
years jail term for advance fee fraud offenses. He
admitted that scammers were mainly youngsters but not
limited to any social strata and educational backgrounds.
An inside source, who understands the mode of operation
of internet fraudsters told our correspondent that the
commission depended mainly on raids until it had a
breakthrough in technology. The EFCC source, who
preferred to remain anonymous, said the technology
called Eagle Claw, was designed by a young Nigerian, who
landed in the EFCC net after he was deported from India
some years ago for successfully hacking the country’s
military website.
He said the commission employed his services to help it
understand the workings of internet fraudsters and he
eventually designed a technology with some programmed
language that sniffs and detects mails suspected to be
from fraudsters. “Once our technology sniffs those
codes, the mail is hijacked and we start investigation
from there. “Under the former administration, EFCC was
able to arrest 2,000 internet scammers using Eagle Claw;
it runs like a laboratory. “There was a case when our team
of investigators acted like a ‘white man’ (prospective
victim) and we kept communicating with the fraudster
until we fixed the Abuja Sheraton Hotel as meeting point
and he simply walked into a net. “There are other
technologies that we are using to combat cyber crimes as
they evolve.” On their mode of operation and recruitment
procedures, the source said they operate in cells
(splinter groups) and each cell has a leader, who trains
the new entrants.
He said the apprentices usually lived with their leaders in
big mansions, where they served them, while undergoing
the rudiments of the game. He said gone were the days
when fraudsters used the cyber café, because of the
fear of being raided, adding that they now operate from
homes, which makes it difficult to arrest them, except by
intelligence report. He added that the advent of private
use of the internet through modems and other ISP
channels had made it difficult to trace scammers without
an up to date technology.
He said that members of the public could identify a
fraudster by some traits, even though they operate by
nick names. “If you see young people living in questionable
affluence today and appear broke tomorrow. “If he
offers to sell his N5m car to you at N1.5m and the next
week he has a bigger car, suspect him. Most times when
they don’t have a victim to milk, they run out of cash and
quickly sell their valuables to continue to live big. “If the
same young man stays at home when people should be at
work, hosting several girls in his apartment, watch him.
“If he usually moves with some other group of young men,
who most likely stay the night in his apartment and having
so many ICT gadgets, watch him.” He however said that
what is important is for members of the public to be
careful and not to be given to greed, as some well-
educated people and even top government officials had at
some time, fallen prey to them. Asked if it is true that
Yahoo plus brand (charm-backed) assisted the
fraudsters in their criminal activities, he said, “I don’t
believe that they charm people, I think they are just
internet smart people who work with technology to
people’s disadvantage.”
