The difficulty
in accessing foreign exchange for transactions has exposed some unsuspecting
Nigerians to criminals who have been dispossessing them of their hard-
earned
money on the pretext of selling dollars to them. However, it was the end of the
road for one of such suspected criminals recently in Lagos, after operatives of
the X-Squad arrested him for allegedly defrauding two victim’s N42, 400,000 on
the pretext of selling false dollars equivalent to them.
The suspect,
Taiwo Olayinka Hassan, 34, a secondary school certificate holder from Ogun
State, and father of three was arrested
following a petition to the police, written by one of the victims (name
withheld) and a former staff of Sky Bank, Suileman Idowu. The unsuspecting ex-banker, Idowu, was the
one that introduced the suspect, Taiwo, said to be a regular customer with the
bank to his victims who wanted to buy dollar from the black market.
According
to sources, the suspect approached Idowu through one of his co-workers at Sky
Bank (name withheld) claiming that he had an inflow and pleaded for assistance
in sourcing for dollars in the United States of America into Bank of America
(BOA) account. Police sources said after his request was granted, the suspect
cloned a cheque which he used to defraud the two victims while pretending to
have foreign inflow. He reportedly obtained the sum of N31,4m fraudulently
from a victim with the hope of
selling $100, 000.00 US dollars equivalent and N11, 000, 000.00 from another
one identified as Dr. Abisoye Ariyo, with the hope of selling $35, 000.00 US
dollars to him.
The
complainant claimed: “I had an exchange
of dollar to naira amount to $100,000.00 equivalent of N36, 000,000.00 paid
into account number 586036023025 and an account name (withheld) which I
subsequently paid the naira into the suspect’s account. The fund that was paid
into the United States of America bank was fraudulent and same fund has been
held by the fraud unit department of the Bank of Americas, BOA.”
Crime guard learned that one of the
victims wanted to purchase a property in
the United States but because of the difficulty in buying dollar from the bank,
opted to buy through the black market when she fell into the antics of the
suspect. The victim’s agent who spoke on the guise of anonymity said: “My
clients wanted to buy a house abroad and because of the scarcity of dollars,
she had to buy it from the black market. So, through an agent, a Bureau De
Change operator with the name Dulwich Ventures, the suspect told us that he had
an inflow abroad. He assured us that he
would pay into my client’s account so that he could collect the Naira
equivalent here stating that after an evidence of transfer, we would now
release the naira equivalent to him to the tune of $100,000.00. “On the 7th of
October, 2016, he gave evidence that he had done the transfer to my clients
account with the BOA. But we did not know that he cloned a cashier’s cheque
from another customer and paid into my client’s account. Though the bank gave immediate value for a
cashier’s cheque, a week later, they knew it was fraudulent and they called my
client that the money that was paid into her account was drawn from a
fraudulent account. Then my client called me and I in turn, called the agent
that introduced the suspect and he called him. But the suspect ran away. From
there, we wrote a petition to the police against him.
“After two weeks, he was
apprehended by the police and he confessed to the crime promising to return all
the money.
The total money that was
transferred to him was N31.4 million and through the same agent, the suspect
was introduced to Dr. Abisoye Ariyo who wanted $35, 000.00.00 to which the
suspect collected N11, 000, 000.00 from him.” He used the money to build a
brand new house in Lagos He continued: “After his arrest, the suspect wrote an
undertaking to refund the money by the end of January, 2017 but went ahead to
use the money to build a brand new house at Number 14, Oyekunle Street, Orile,
Agege area of Lagos. The police seized the documents of the house. And in that
undertaking, he said if by the end of January, he was not able to pay the
money, we should sell the house and recover our money. All his accounts were
frozen and a total of N 4, 000, 000.00 was recovered. The outstanding balance
for my client’s money is N27.4 million. “At the end of January, the suspect
alongside other people now went to Force Criminal Investigations Department,
FCID, Alagbon, Lagos with the intention of transferring the case to them.
Unfortunately for them, the Commissioner of Police Lagos state, thwarted their
efforts and stopped the transfer
Idowu was the one that brought the clients-Taiwo
Giving his own
account of the deal, the suspect who claimed to be a car dealer and property
developer told Crime Guard that he knew the ex-banker, Suleiman Idowu through
his colleague at Sky Bank. He alleged
that he told the duo that his friend in the United Kingdom simply known as Akin
had US dollars he wanted to sell. “He asked me to look for buyers for him which
I also told Idowu. So, Idowu was the one that brought the clients. I told Idowu that the dollar is fraudulent
but he told me he knew the way to go about it; that he would take care of it
for me. So, he provided me with the account details to which I transferred
$100,000, 00 to my contact in the UK who also transferred it to the account
number in the US. He also gave me another account to which I transferred $35,
000.00. “After three weeks, the ex-banker, Idowu, called me to say that the
money I sent to his clients is having issues. After two weeks, I was arrested
at GTB, Oregun Branch. I sold my car and my land in Agege to pay back. I have
paid the $35, 000.00 and out of the $100,000, 00, I have also paid N4,
000,000.00 out of it.”
Idowu took 10 percent out of the money
The suspect also
alleged that the ex-banker took 10 percent out of the money claiming that; “The
dollar rate then was N450 but he sold to him for N350 after then, he took his
10 percent.”
Ex-banker denies allegations
Giving account of his involvement in
the deal, the ex-banker, Idowu said: “When he approached me, I asked him to pay
first which he did and we confirmed his payment. We went to confirm his house
address which happened to be his parent’s
house before we transferred the money to his account later in the
evening. I was not the one that made the transaction, the Bureau De Change operators
were the ones that made the payment. “I did not do any transaction with them.
The Bureau De Change operator is like my Uncle, I only linked them up. I did
not know that the transaction was fraudulent.
I worked in the bank for several years. I could not have been
involved if I had known the transaction
was a fraud, “he stated.
Source: Vanguardngr
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