Police arrest father, son for alleged cybercrime

TRACKING >>Police operatives attached to ‘Area F’ command headquarters, Ikeja, led by the Area Commander, ACP Olasoji Akinbayo, have arrested a 19-year-old boy and his accomplice father for allegedly defrauding a Lagos-based businessman, Mr. Ekemezie Obinna Emmanuel, the sum of N1.2milion through cyber-related fraud.

The suspect, identified as Emmanuel John Amadi, met Ekemezie on Facebook sometime in July 2019 having requested for friendship and the request was accepted following which they started exchanging pleasantries.

In one of the posts, the suspect was said to have told his new friend that he was into Forex business and needed prospective buyers. As a businessman, whose branch was into Forex, Ekemezie, who though had his business based in Enugu State with a branch in Lagos, was said to have shown interest in the deal and an agreement was reached on the amount to be sold.

It was gathered that the suspect promptly forwarded his Access bank account number 0780909179 to the victim who transferred the sum of N1,210,000 into the account without an inkling that the deal was a bogus one adding that ever since the transaction was completed, the suspect blocked the victim both on his Facebook and Whatsapp accounts; thereby making communications with the suspect impossible.

Sources hinted that the phone numbers 0814369123 and 07053248619 were later tracked to somewhere in Iyana Isashi on Tuesday, August 21, a community in the outskirts of Lagos, where the suspect was arrested together with his father who was said to be behind the fraud. The role played by his father could not be ascertained yet.

Attempt to get the reaction of the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkena, on the arrest proved abortive as calls placed to his phone rang without response, but a source close to his office who confirmed the arrest said: “The suspect is a serial cyber crime fraudster who cashed in on some naïve businessmen to dupe them.”