Photos: EFCC arrests 4 undergraduates, 3 others for internet scam

This is an EFCC press release. Find it below...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested four undergraduates and three others for alleged involvement in Internet scam.

They were arrested in two different locations in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The undergraduates are: Otuyalo Damilola (right), a 400 level student of Computer Science of Lead City University, Ibadan; Adegbuyi Michael (left), an undergraduate of University of Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia; Ibrahim Aruna, (centre) a student of Mineral Resources Engineering, Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State and Adeosun Matthew, a 200 level student of Banking and Finance, University of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Others are Afolabi Ayodele, Balogun Olumuyiwa and Abiola Okunola.

Five of the suspects: Aruna, Matthew, Ayodele, Olumuyiwa and Okunola were arrested together at the Iyana Adeoyo Branch of a first generation bank in Dugbe, Ibadan, while they were collecting proceeds of scam via Western Union.

The other two suspects: Damilola and Michael were picked up in a rented apartment in Oluyole Estate, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The arrest of the seven suspects followed intense surveillance by operatives of the Commission who had been on their trail for sometime. One of the suspects, Olumuyiwa, admitted conning a white American lady, Sarah Jorth, in a romance scam. He said he was used a false name (Vincente Marco) to deceive her into believing that he would marry her and in the process raked in more than $450,000 ( Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) from her.

Two other suspects: Damilola and Michael also confessed that they were into Internet scam to make ends meet. According to Damilola, "I am into yahoo yahoo (Internet fraud) and I do this to earn a living. I make use of a laptop to access Internet, to look for vulnerable white men and women who will fall for my scam. I acquired my Infinity Jeep and Honda Accord car through the fraud". He also admitted that he had been in the business since 2010.

Michael confessed that he started Internet scam since 2000 when he was a student at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State. Even when he moved to Malaysia, he was still engrossed in the business. "Anytime I come home on holiday, I look for vulnerable targets because the rigour of studies in Malaysia would not allow me to do it there,” he said. He disclosed that his specialty was lottery scam.

Items recovered from the suspects include: three laptop computers; one flash drive; two Visafone modems; one traveling passport; one Infinity Fx 35 SUV, one Honda Accord car and some bank documents.

They will be arraigned in court as soon as investigations are concluded.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
19th March, 2014