COVID-19 scam: Nigeria Police, INTERPOL arrest 2 over 14.7m Euros fraud
- Two Nigerians arrested for trying to defraud a German man to the tune of 14.7m Euros
- Adesanya and Abass managed to collect about 2.380m Euros before Hahn suspected the fraud and reported to the police.
- The Nigeria Police, INTERPOL and Nigeria Central Bureau all worked together to arrest the suspects
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Two Nigerians have been arrested for taking part in a COVID-19 scam valued at about 14.7m Euros, the Nigeria Police Force has announced.
The duo of Babatunde Adesanya a.k.a Teddy, a 50-year-old Master degree holder in Cell Biology and Akinpelu Hassan Abass, a 41-year-old, the M.D Musterpoint Investment Nig. Ltd is said to be part of a criminal network.
The two men got caught after cloning the corporate website of a company in the Netherlands, ILBN Holdings BV, to defraud one Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn.
Hahn is a representative of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Adesanya and Abass had claimed they wanted to procure COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) but never had any intention of delivering.
The sum of 1.5m Euro and another 880,000 Euro were taken as advanced payment for the supply of COVID-19 PPEs valued at 14.7million Euros.
Source: UGC
Hahn eventually visited the corporate office of ILBN Holdings BV in Holland on why supply was delayed only to find out that the company never did business with him and that the transaction was a scam
The German government then sent a request to Nigeria for investigations into the fraudulent transaction that linked back to a local bank account number.
The office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, then sent a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to the National Central Bureau, Abuja.
The Bureau teamed up with the Cybercrime Unit of the Nigeria Police Force and INTERPOL Nigeria to trace the culprits.
Investigations by INTERPOL Nigeria revealed that the suspects and their Holland-based cohorts, one Eduardus Boomstra and Geradius Maulder specialized in identity theft, cyber-stalking, cloning of corporate websites amongst other cyber mischiefs to defraud unsuspecting members of the public across the world.
Hahn had reported the case of fraud to the Police in Holland and this led to the arrest of Boomstra and Maulder in Holland and investigations extended to Nigeria.
Adesanya received 498,000 Euros from Holland cohorts through his London account and transferred it to an account number in a Lagos branch of a leading commercial bank belonging to Musterpoint Investment Nig. Ltd.
The suspects will be arraigned before a competent court of law soon, the police said in a statement sent to Legit.ng.
The Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu praised the security outfits that took part in the investigations and assured citizens and the international community of Nigeria's commitment to tackling cybercrimes and other transnational crimes.
This latest arrest came about two months after operatives of the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit and INTERPOL Nigeria also arrested three suspects.
The suspects were Samson Inegbenesun, Blessed Junior and Muhammed Zakari, all male and in their 30s.
According to a statement by the police spokesman, DCP Frank Mba on Sunday, July 12, the suspects were arrested for cyber-related offences including advance fee fraud, money laundering and romance scam.
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Source: Legit.ng
