Police operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) have arrested a serial fake bank alert fraudster, Olaogun Babatunde, for using such means to defraud a Nigerian of N5 million, the same he did some years ago with fake bank alert of N4.6 million, for the purchase of laptop computers.
Thirty seven-year-old Babatunde, who hails from Ogbomoso in Oyo State was said to be a 2008 graduate of University of Lagos.
He is popularly known by friends as ‘evil genius’ because of his expertise in generating fake bank credit alerts he was using to defraud traders and others before the long arm of the law caught up with him.
Thenewsbearer learnt that the suspect was previously arrested by the IRT Commander, DCP Tunji Disu when he led Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command in 2018, as he was alleged to have generated and used fake bank alert to buy laptop computers worth N4.6 million for a dealer, one Kevin Otenuga.
On his latest arrest in Abuja, Babatunde was said to have met one Chidinma Vivian Okwenna through social network platform where they interacted and exchanged contacts.
On December 9, 2021, he reportedly approached Okwenna again at Wuse Zone 2 First Bank that his boss was in need of N5 million mint notes.
Okwenna was said to have made moves on his behalf and raised the sum of N3.5 million which she handed over to him.
In pretext of paying back through his bank account, he generated fake bank credit alert of the amount through Zenith Bank accounts and sent it to her.
After the supposed payback, Babatunde m immediately took an excuse and rushed out of the bank, claiming to have a meeting with someone.
Immediately he stepped out of the bank, he blocked Okwenna from reaching him both on social media platforms and mobile networks.
Meanwhile, after obtaining his account statement, it was discovered that he was just having just N24,000 in the Zenith Bank account on the day of transaction
All efforts by the victim to reach him thereafter proved abortive until she reported the matter to FIB-IRT Central Base, leading to his being tracked to and arrested in Lokoja, Kogi State.
Upon interrogation, he confessed to have used the fake alert to purchase goods worth billions of naira, adding that he had defrauded many traders in Lagos and other cities.
He was said to have had women mostly as soft targets and had fake sites and pages online.
The suspect was said to have been on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and had undertaken interrogation waiting to be handed over to the police team by the anti-graft agency for other crimes he reportedly committed.
Investigations revealed that the suspect was still in the detention facility of the anti-graft agency, to be handed over to police unit for further interrogation before prosecution by the EFCC.
The Inspector- General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali, had warned the public, particularly traders to be wary of the activities of fraudsters who use fake bank alert to defraud citizens.
