A 38-year-old man, Omoniyi Ademola, who was arrested recently by operatives of the Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, has narrated how he defrauded Senator Tayo Alasodura of N3 million, while pretending to be a female relative.
Vanguard learned that Ademola, a native of Ikare-Akoko area of Ondo State, started defrauding the lawmaker in June 2016, during his campaign for the Ondo State governorship election.
He was said to have set up a WhatsApp support group for the Senator using a woman’s picture and put up favourable post on the group daily. The Senator was also a member of said group.
Ademola said: “He (Senator) was moved by the support I gave him on the group and wanted to know why I was showing so much interest in his campaign since he didn’t commission me to do so.
“I identified myself as Deborah, one of his distance relatives, schooling in Jos. He believed me, then I started swindling him.”
Ademola, however, ran into trouble in September, when he attempted to defraud the Senator of an additional N5 million, pretending to have been kidnapped by some bandits operating along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway.
He wrote a text message to the Senator in Hausa dialect, begging him to pay N5 million as ransom or he (Ademola) would be killed.
Senator Alasodura was said to have alerted the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, about the kidnap, only for the IRT operatives, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, to discover during investigations that the said bandit was nowhere near the Abuja-Kaduna Highway, but was in Akure, Ondo State.
They trailed the ‘kidnapper’ to Akure, where he was arrested. However, the ‘kidnapper’ turned out to be Ademola.
Scamming a Senator Explaining further, Ademola said: “My phone has an application that could turn my voice from that of a man to a woman.
“During our chats, I told Senator that I needed money to write my project and he sent me some money and after writing my project, I told him that I had no money to come back home and he sent me some money.
“But few days later, I called and told him that I was involved in an accident and my leg would be amputated. He took pity on me and said he would spend any amount of money in ensuring that my leg was not amputated.
“He asked to speak with the doctor of the hospital I was taken to and I gave him my second number and spoke to him as the doctor. “He then sent me some money for my treatment and feeding.
After a long time, he called to check how I was doing and I told him that I wasn’t improving. “Then he directed me to a place in Ede, Osun State, to continue treatment and sent me money for the treatment and feeding.
“After some months, I called to inform him that I was fine and he asked me to come to Akure so he could see me. He sent me some money for transport.
“While he was expecting me, I sent him a text informing him I had been kidnapped. He immediately stopped talking to me and before I knew what was happening the Police came and arrested me.”
