Community Leader Scammed of ₦5.4m by Impersonators

A community leader from Otu-Jeremi was defrauded of ₦5,475,000 by suspects who impersonated prominent public officials. The suspects, Aghogho Okpogbodu (51), Moses Exist (48), and Benjamin Owah (49), were arrested by the police from the Effuru Area Command.

According to the command’s spokesperson, Bright Edafe, the suspects used SIM cards registered under the identities of officials, including George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Chief Hon. Onoriode Sunday, Director of Protocol to the Governor of Delta State; and Hon. Prince Johnson Erijo, Chief of Staff to the Governor of Delta State. They exploited a caller-identification application to create the illusion that their calls were from these officials.

During one operation, they defrauded the community leader under the pretense of facilitating his appointment as President-General. A search of their premises resulted in the recovery of seven mobile phones, 17 SIM cards, 12 ATM cards with different names, one Point-of-Sale terminal, and documents with financial and identification information.

The investigation is ongoing to identify other victims and accomplices.