A scenario that can be interpreted to mean that Ibadan, the Oyo State capital may have taken over Lagos in terms of internet frauds and associated crimes has emerged.
On Monday, the Ibadan office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said that more than 100 undergraduates of various tertiary institutions were in its custody over financial crimes ranging from online love scam, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) fraud and online marketing.
Business Hilights recalls that a pointer to the trend may have appeared few months ago when some officials of an old generation bank (name with held), connived with few staff of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) branch, and other arrested accomplices to launder mutilated bank notes worth billions of naira meant for destruction into the financial market.
Speaking for Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, the commission’s Deputy Zonal Head, Ibadan, Kazeem Oseni, in a press conference said the Ibadan office had recovered around N277.9m from fraudsters in the past nine months, adding that 50 cases had been instituted against the perpetrators of the financial crimes with 381 other cases being investigated.
According to him, “The commission is attending to 431 cases among which 50 cases are already in court. In the past nine months, we have arrested 195 individuals in connection with bank fraud, internet fraud, land and general disputes”.
“Among the cases in court are the ones involving the Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, that of the Federal University of Technology, Akure and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
“The prevailing case in Ibadan is internet frauds involving young people. The Ibadan office has so far recovered N277, 931,341m from various financial criminals while we have also recovered objects like cars used by fraudsters to perpetrate crimes.”
Giving more insights on the arrests and some ongoing cases, EFCC’s Head of Public Affairs in Ibadan, Ayo Oyewole, revealed that undergraduates formed larger part of those in custody, adding that some hotels were also seized.
He said “Many cars were recovered from undergraduates who were investigated or being investigated. They deal in fake online marketing, fraudulent online dating, ATM fraud and other forms of internet crimes. Over 100 of them have been arrested in the past nine months by the Ibadan office of the EFCC”.
