A 28-year-old suspected drug addict, Oluwanisola Quadri, has been arrested for fraud a week after he was released from prison in Oyo State......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
The suspect was apprehended by personnel of Oluyole Security Surveillance Team in Ibadan after he had duped many Point of Sale (PoS) operators and traders while pretending to have transferred money to their accounts through bank apps.
According to the Nigerian Tribune, his mode of operation was to approach a PoS operator to ask for cash, stating that he would transfer the money collected, including the usual commission to the operator through his bank app.
However, all he was doing was copying a credit alert on his phone, changing the name to that of the person he was interacting with, changing the date and time, and forwarding it to the person’s number to make it seem like it was a credit alert from his bank.
Claiming that he started the fraudulent act in June, Quadri was able to succeed for some time until he was arrested by the Ashi Division of the Oyo State Police Command in September and charged to court.
Unable to fulfill bail conditions, the suspect was remanded in Agodi Correctional Centre, Ibadan, and was there till late November when some fellow inmates helped him to get sureties and fulfill other bail conditions to set him free.
However, immediately he regained freedom, he started the act again as a result of his claim that he had no money to survive on.
Quadri, who was suspected to be a drug addict and high on the illicit substances, was like someone in a trance when speaking with the publication, drawling and barely audible.
It was gathered that the suspect took to drugs after he got admission into Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, and became so addicted that he used his school fees paid by his father to consume it.
“It is true I was giving fake alerts to the people I made purchases from and PoS operators. The mode of my operation was to edit bank debit alert, paste it on message box, change the name on it, date and amount. I would then send it. Most of the PoS operators were not paying me if they didn’t see the alert with credit balance. I was a customer in the chemist I went to buy drugs
“I started the fake alert in June this year. The idea occurred to me because I studied Accounting. I tried it one day and it worked. However, after about two fake transfers, I was arrested in September by the police at Ashi Division. I was charged to court and remanded in Agodi prison when I could not fulfill bail conditions immediately.
“I was calling my father to inform him but he always cut the calls abruptly without me being able to explain the situation I was in. I left prison in November when some inmates contributed money and helped to pay for my bail. They also got me two sureties.
“This morning, a week after I left prison, I didn’t have money, so I went to a PoS operator to collect money. As usual, I edited a bank transfer and sent it as a message to the operator, but he said he would not give me the money until he would get credit alert.
“I left the place, and I saw some men who called me and said they needed to discuss with me. I was with them when a call came from someone I bought drugs worth N10,000 from the previous day. She started shouting that I had duped her. The men heard and I was apprehended.
“I used to take Pentazocine, which is for pain relief, whenever I was weak, and I would indeed get relief. I admit that there has been no gain in taking illicit drugs. I have been trying to get out of them, my attempts to get a job were unsuccessful.”.
