The Delta State Police Command has narrated how teenagers from different states of the federation were lured into learning internet fraud by a syndicate under the guise of teaching them crypto and forex trading.
Spokesperson of the Delta State Command, SP Bright Edafe, made the disclosure while parading 123 suspected internet fraudsters on Wednesday.
LEADERSHIP reports that the 123 suspected Internet fraudsters, otherwise known as ‘Yahoo Boys’ were arrested within the week at a ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ training school located in an ‘Army Estate’ in Effurun, Delta State.
He said the arrested boys, most of whom are within the age range of 17 – 20, were lured into cybercrime by a syndicate called ‘HK’ (Hustlers Kingdom).
Parading the suspects at Ekpan Police Station in Uwvie local government area of the State, SP Edafe said the suspects were engaged in the business of internet fraud. “They were all placed in a particular house in one estate in Effurun, Warrior Road where where they do what that call HK. They said HK means Hustlers Kingdom.”
The Police spokesman explained that the syndicate’s mode of operation was engaging their agents who go on social media to flaunt wealth that are most often not even theirs to convince unsuspecting young boys between the ages of 17 and 20 that they want to teach them forex and crypto business.
“They lure them all the way from Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Ibadan to that particular estate and beat the hell out of them. That is their own welcoming to them and they feed them only when they feel like feeding them.
“In fact, one of them said once they enter the bathroom to bath, before they come out, they would seize their clothes, ‘dey don come, dey don come, ‘ that in this place, there’s no going back,” SP Edafe said.
He further explained that the police got the information through one of the suspects who came all the way from Kaduna State but told the syndicate that he could not do the ‘hustling’ and should be allowed to leave but they refused.
The boy now used the laptop assigned to him for internet fraud to contact the mother, who in turn reported to a relative who is a military personnel.
The military men came in their large number and raided the estate and arrested over 143 suspected internet fraudsters.
He cited the case of one Gbolahan who was deceived from Ibadan in Oyo State. Gbolahan said he studied in an Arabic school and needed money to go Cairo in Egypt. He met one of his friends, who he asked to borrow him N150,000.
Edafe said, “That guy told him that people that are below you are living larger than you. Come to Warri, let me teach you how to make money. Only for him to come, they took him to that estate. As they’re entering the estate, they were locking the gates and he became apprehensive and asked ‘What am I here to do?,’ they told him it was internet fraud.
“He told them ‘I am an Alfa. I can’t do this’ and they told him ‘You have come and you’re not going back.’ That was how they welcomed him with beating.”
The Delta State Police Command’s image maker said Gbolahan was beaten to the extent that he excreted and urinated on his body with no choice than to stay back.
He quoted Gbolahan to have told the police that he had not spoken to his parents, not allowed access to sunlight throughout the nine months he stayed in the gang’s custody within the estate.
Edafe then charged parents to cultivate the habit of monitoring their children and their peer groups.
“When we can’t find them for some time, we should look for them. When they come home with unexplained and ill-gotten wealth, we should ask question; we should not continue to tolerate this. This does not speak well for us as a nation, as a people and as a society,” SP Edafe said.
One of the suspects, 17-year-old Gideon, who came from Akwa Ibom State, when asked about what brought him to the situation, said he came to the estate to hustle.
The teenage boy said he stayed in the estate for over one month and they were only fed morning and evening, adding that they only slept between 9am and 5pm afterwhich they start working.
Gideon said they were shown how to hack Facebook and other social media accounts, stating that he did not like the business because it was hard for him to do.
Speaking on when he spoke last with his parents, Gideon said, “They always seize our phones; we’re only allowed to call on Sundays only.”
