A fraudster and ex-convict who poses as a staff of the Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation to defraud unsuspecting victims has been nabbed.
Surajudeen Balogun
An ex-convict, Surajudeen Balogun has been arrested by men of the Ogun State police command for allegedly impersonating an Ogun State Director of Finance on Facebook.
According to information released by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement yesterday, he explained that the “suspect, a fashion designer, posed on Facebook as a staff of Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation, NNPC, with the picture of the said finance director through which he had been defrauding unsuspecting members of the public.
He said: “The 46-year-old suspect had earlier been arrested for similar offence, when he duped one Bimpe Akinmade of N950,000, claiming to be an NNPC staff based in Port Harcourt, Cross River State.
“He asked the woman to lend him the said amount to secure the release of his brother, who was detained at Ibara Prison with the promise to repay her when he returns to Abeokuta.
“He came to meet the victim under the pretext of running an errand for the Port Harcourt-based man, collected the money and blocked the woman on his Facebook page.
“He was later traced and arrested by the Police, charged to court and sentenced to prison.
“As soon as he came out of prison, he started his nefarious activities again. Luck ran against him when he was trying to defraud another woman on Facebook under the same guise, unknown to him that the woman is a Police officer.
“The officer played along until Saturday, when he was arrested while trying to collect the money from the woman. On interrogation, he owned up to the crime, informing the Police that he downloaded the picture of the said finance director and use it as his DP to deceive his victims.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered that the case be thoroughly investigated and charged to court as soon as possible. He appealed to members of public to beware of fraudsters on social media.”