A suspect, Lucky Victor, leader of a five-member syndicate, has narrated how they defrauded a student of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, of N9.8 million.
Lucky and his group were paraded alongside 46 other suspects by the Edo State Police Command.
Lucky, who hails from Delta State but resides in Benin, explained that he went to Ekpoma alongside his friend for 419 business.
He said, “On getting there, one of us, Daniel, asked the victim to show us the way to a place because we were strangers and didn’t know the way.
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“As he was discussing with her, one of us came to tell them that he had a diamond to sell and that if she could take him to the place, he would give us N20,000 each .But it was not a diamond, it was just 419.
“They came to meet me inside the vehicle and explained the diamond issue to me and that they wanted to sell it for N5m, but I told them I would buy it for N9.5m and that the girl’s share of the money was N3m, and she agreed to take us.
“After stating how the money would be shared, I told them they had lied to the girl and that those who were with diamonds didn’t tell lies and that the evil that went with it had entered their bodies.
“I now told them that the only way out was for them to deposit all their belongings, phones and ATMs, on the diamond, which they all complied with, including the girl who was not aware that we were members of the same gang.
He further said that because the girl was already afraid that she would be harmed she disclosed her PIN number, and that they later disengaged her from the vehicle and asked her to go home and pray for her survival as everyone was on his own.
He added that, “After disengaging her, we went to a POS in Ekpoma, checked her account balance and about N4.8m was in it. We withdrew N500,000 from the account in Ekpoma and left for Benin City.
“We took the ATMs to one of our friends in Benin who operates POS and withdrew the remaining money from the accounts. The total money we withdrew from her ATM was N4.8m and not N9.8m.
“But the account was blocked before we could withdraw the total money in the account. We then sold the iPhone we collected from her.
“My share of the money was over N1.3m. I bought a vehicle from the money and used the remaining to work on it. Other members also got their shares of the money. I got the lion’s share because it was my motor we used for the job.”
The victim, who spoke to City & Crime, said the suspects told her that they were looking for a place and that immediately they touched her; she was not conscious of what she was doing.
She said it was when she reached home that it dawned on her that her items were missing and reported to the police.
