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,
which 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.”
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