Man uses fake bank alert to steal N5m

Wale Olaide

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested a suspected fraudster, Wale Olaide, aka Wale Dollar, for using a fake bank credit alert to defraud a bureau de change operator, Abdulhamid Abubakar, of N5m.

EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said the suspect, who was an expert in defrauding unsuspecting victims through fraudulent bank credit alerts, contacted Abubakar’s younger brother, Hashim, also a bureau de change operator based in Lome, Togo, that he wanted to purchase N5m equivalent in CFA.

He said, “Olaide requested for his (Hashim) Nigerian bank account to enable him to pay in the naira equivalent. Hashim asked Abubakar to send his First Bank account details to Olaide.

“Abubakar sent his account details and later received an alert supposedly from his bank that N5m had been

credited to his account.  Upon receiving the alert, Abubakar informed his brother, who in turn released the CFA equivalent of N5m to Olaide.”

 It was learnt that when Abubakar visited the bank to withdraw the money the following day, his account balance did not reflect the transaction. He subsequently reported the incident to the EFCC.

Wilson said, “A series of investigations led to the arrest of Olaide who is believed to be a member of a syndicate involved in duping unsuspecting members of the public through fraudulent bank notification alerts.

“EFCC is working to unravel the network of operations of the syndicate. But members of the public should be wary of this new trend in crime by fraudsters who use phony credit alerts to defraud people.”