The Ilorin Zonal Command of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) has arrested one Akogun Rasheed Usman, an alleged fraudster, who has been posing as an officer of the commission and defrauding victims on the pretext that he could help them procure soft-landing regarding their cases with the commission.
The bubble burst for the scammer when the Command received intelligence regarding his criminal activities.
Usman who claimed to be an officer of the EFCC reportedly obtained money to the tune of N.5m from one Mrs. Khadizah Abdullahi, a parent of two of the suspects held in custody by the Commission over offences bordering on internet fraud.
The intel, which was found to be credible led to the arrest of the suspect, who claimed to be a staff at the Library Department of the Kwara State College of Education, Oro.
The suspect was apprehended on Thursday, March 27, 2024 at the General Hospital, Taiwo-Oke area, Ilorin, the state capital.
Mrs. Abdullahi said she became agitated when the suspect failed to have her two sons held in custody by the EFCC released on bail to her as promised.
She dislosed that she passed through the same security screening with Akogun while at the EFCC office, a situation that aroused her curiosity about why an officer with the Commission would be subjected to the same process.
“She also noticed that while in the EFCC office to perfect the ‘phony bail’, the self-styled EFCC staff neither receive nor give salute or compliments to fellow officers as compliments is a tradition in all security and law enforcement agencies.
“She added that rather than have her sons released to her, the suspects took her to a location outside the office to receive the said sum of N.5million and demanded for more money to perfect the bail.
“It was in the process of collecting additional N200,000 when the long arm of the law caught up with him,” the anti-graft body said.
The Command added that the suspect will be charged to court upon conclusion of the ongoing investigations.
