Police warn Ekiti residents to beware of scammers, fake NGOs

Court sentences three Internet fraudsters to jail in Ibadan
The Ekiti State Police Command has raised the alarm over existence of fake non-governmental organisations in the state that have been swindling unsuspecting members of the public.The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Asuquo Amba, said the scammers had been operating and duping the populace using fake and inexistent empowerment programmes as baits.

In a statement signed by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Caleb Ikechukwu, the police commissioner said the dupers were operating with five fictitious NGO names to defraud the people.“We are using this medium to inform the public that some fake NGOs that are defrauding the people under the cover of empowerment programmes are parading themselves in Ekiti communities.

“They claimed to have grants from United States (U.S.),” he said.Amba added that the suspected fraudsters were deluding the citizens that they were out to empower the needy and less-privileged persons and sought for a registration fee of N5,000 as pre-requisite for qualification.“They used to deceive the people that with investment of N5,000, the person gets N50,000 in return and so on with women mostly their victims.”

Meanwhile, the Federal High Court, Ibadan, presided by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, yesterday sentenced three Internet fraudsters to prison having found them guilty of criminal charges preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibadan Zonal Office.The trio, Ajao Jamal, Olawale Joel and Kehinde Ridwan Tobi, were re-arraigned after approaching the commission for plea-bargaining.

Ajao and Joel were jointly brought before the court on a one-count amended charge bordering on fraudulent impersonation. They pleaded guilty to the charge and they were jailed six months each.Kehinde, who was tried separately, was originally arraigned on June 28 on a three-count charge of being in possession of fraudulent documents. He equally later approached the commission for a plea-bargaining.

Based on the plea-bargaining arrangement, he was re-arraigned on October 7, 2019 on a one-count amended charge bordering on fraudulent impersonation and also pleaded guilty to the said charge.

The presiding judge sentenced him to one year imprisonment. He was also ordered to forfeit to the Federal Government his Iphone 6s Plus, a Nokia phone, an HP Laptop, one ZTE modem WIFI and an Itel phone.