A 29-year-old suspected fraudster, Ekperebuike Akadonye, has confessed to defrauding a Saudi doctor and impersonating the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Idris Ibrahim.
The Saudi Arabia-based doctor, Hassan Alkahallaf, was said to have been duped by fraudsters on the internet and decided to lay a complaint online to the IGP.
Akadonye, who disguised on the social media as the IGP, officially introduced himself to Alkahallaf, who eventually fell a victim after he promised to help the doctor recover his loses.
The Punch gathered that the suspect contacted his victim, who is attached to the Department of Urology, Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, via an email address, igofnieria@outlook.com, purportedly belonging to IG Ibrahim Idris.
The doctor replied to Akadonye’s emails, believing he was the real IG of the Nigeria Police Force.
The suspect demanded $10,000 from Alkahallaf to facilitate the legal processes of the recovery and the victim was said to have paid the sum into his account in installment.
Some months later, the doctor contacted the real IG through the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Nigeria and realized that he had been duped.
Consequently, the IGP reportedly directed the Inspector-General Special Intelligence Response Team, to go after the suspect, after the case was reported through the Saudi Embassy.
The team trailed Akadonye to Imo State, where he hails from and apprehended him.
In his confession, the suspect said he took to the crime after his shops were demolished by the government.
According to him, “I am a trader and I had shops in Mbano, Imo State. But they were demolished by the government.
“One of my friends introduced me to Internet fraud. I started by searching for prominent persons on the Internet.
“When I found Dr. Alkahallaf, he told me he had some funds trapped in Nigeria and he wanted to claim them.
“I presented myself to him as the IG and told him the President had mandated me to assist fraudsters’ victims to get back their lost funds.
“I asked him to pay for a lawyer. He believed and paid me.”
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