Man allegedly buys over N400,000 worth of recharge cards from unsuspecting bank customer’s account

Operatives of the Lagos Rapid Response Squad (RSS) of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested a man, who allegedly recharged his phone from another person’s bank account.

The suspect, Ebenezer Oyeneye, a 50-year-old truck driver, who resides at No. 4, Moyinoluwa Avenue, Ijoko Lemode, Ogun State, was arrested by the decoy team of RRS.

It was reported at Aguda Divisional Police Headquarters in Surulere that one woman, who wanted to remain anonymous,  reported that an unknown person has been obtaining for his phone credit from her bank account at one of the new generation commercial banks in the country since July 2016.

The victim complained about the frequency and sum of money which the suspect had withdrawn from her bank account by purchasing a credit “top up,” which is usually debited from her account.

The victim noted that the fraud began on July 4, 2016, after she received a debit alert from her bank that she had recharged a sum of N1,000 call credit  for her phone line without sending such command or initiating such transaction.

“I was amazed when my financial institution notified me of a debit on my bank account and the same thing continued for 11 months.”

The woman filed the case with the operatives of the Aguda Divisional Headquarters, Surulere,  from where it was transferred to RRS for an in-depth investigation. This led to the arrest of the suspect, Ebenezer. He was arrested and questioned on his involvement in the crime by the decoy team of the RRS.

He confessed that in July 2016, after the truck he used to drive was retrieved from him by the owner due to a misunderstanding. With nothing to live on and maintain his family needs, he then found a means of livelihood after trying to recharge his phone line with a short code and was credited N1,000 immediately.

“I tried it the following day and I was issued a N3,000 balance which was also credited and so I  continued to recharge for months.”

“I became so overwhelmed by the value of my call credit balance and I immediately resorted to selling some to people around me before I was blocked.

The suspect confessed to have been sharing his loot with his wife and calling his mistresses as a big man with so much call credit.

When told the amount he had recharged within 11months, Ebenezer said he knew he would have recharged up to the said amount (N400,000) because he did not give a break as he found it profitable using the illegal platform to enrich himself.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous- Cole, has advised members of the public to seek professional counsel from their financial institutions before connecting their bank account to any online transaction and report immediately any case of strange activities on their bank account to the necessary authorities.