Three men have been arrested for allegedly collecting N5.475m from a community leader in Delta State with a promise to secure his appointment as president-general of his community.
The suspects allegedly impersonated the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, and some Delta State Government officials to convince the victim that they could influence the appointment.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Bright Edafe, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, adding that detectives attached to the Area Command, Effurun, arrested the suspects after an investigation.
The suspects were identified as Aghogho Okpogbodu, 51; Moses Exist, 48; and Benjamin Owah, 49.
Edafe said the suspects allegedly used SIM cards linked to the identities of prominent public officials and a caller-identification application to make their calls appear to come from the officials they impersonated.
“In one of the cases, the suspects allegedly defrauded a community leader from Otu-Jeremi of the sum of ₦5,475,000 under the pretext of facilitating his appointment as President-General of his community,” the statement said.
The police said a search of the suspects’ premises led to the recovery of seven mobile phones, 17 SIM cards, 12 ATM cards bearing different names, a Point-of-Sale terminal and documents containing financial and identification details belonging to different individuals.
The command said investigations were ongoing to identify other possible victims and accomplices.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Samuel Erale, warned residents against trusting caller-identification applications as proof of a caller’s identity, particularly when money or promises of government appointments were involved.
He urged anyone who might have been defrauded by the suspects or through similar schemes to provide credible information to assist the investigation.
