Abuja: The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) said it has dismantled a cross-border fraud syndicate and arrested a fake World Bank official.
The Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Anthony Placid, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the syndicate was dismantled and the fake World Bank official arrested following actionable intelligence received from the East Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Safe Promotion (EA-SSASPF) Foundation.
Placid said the intelligence showed that the foundation was a registered NGO in Nairobi, Kenya and that one Mr Julius Kithome and Ms Cynthia Kithome were introduced to the suspect by one Rev. Edy Ndeto in Nairobi.
The police spokesman said the suspect had falsely represented himself as an official of the World Bank and other US-based donor partners.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the complainants, relying on the fraudulent claims, transferred a total of 250,000 dollars over three years for purported registration and administrative fees meant to unlock donor funding.
“No funding was ever secured, and instead, the suspect organised sham symposiums in Nigeria and South Africa.
“In 2024, he further induced the victims to secure a bank loan against their family property to access a non-existent 850,000-dollar empowerment fund in Ghana,” he said.
Placid said that the investigation and financial analysis had confirmed substantial inflows from the Kenyan victims. This included 57,975 dollars between February and July 2023. He said the suspect was arrested on March 31, and that the entity, Black Diamond African Beauty Restoration Foundation, was found to be unregistered in Nigeria.
The police spokesman said the suspect had promptly registered United African Continent Limited in November 2024 to legitimise his illicit activities.
He said further findings indicated the suspect had extended his fraudulent scheme to local farmers in the Kuje Area Council. The suspect collected N50,000 each from them, claiming this was for empowerment and capacity building. In a related development, operatives of the NPF-NCCC arrested a suspect on April 3 following a complaint by Lex Excellentia on behalf of Mr Emmanuel Enwelu of NewLife Ventures. MaHe said the suspect, a former employee, was accused of unauthorised system modification, cybersquatting, and fund diversion.
Placid said the suspect confessed to using his bank accounts to receive customer payments meant for the company.
He said that one Samsung A6 Plus Mobile Phone, a NIN Paper Slip, and a NIN Digital Slip were recovered from the suspect.
