How we defrauded people seeking contracts in Abuja - Suspects

Members of a fraud syndicate, based in Abuja, who specialized in defrauding people under the guise of assisting them to procure Federal Government contracts, have been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT. Vanguard gathered that four members of the syndicate, who were identified as Uche Njokwu, Ifeanyi Chukwu, Nnegbu Rowland and Lucky Paul, were arrested after they successful defrauded a businessman and government contractor, simply identified as Alhaji of the sum of N14million.

Sources disclosed that members of the syndicate would rummage through waste bins at the Federal Government Secretariat, at the Central Business Districts, Abuja, looking for disposed documents or business proposals from businessmen and companies seeking contracts from the Federal Government. It was learned that when they stumbled on any, they would in some cases, write to the company or businessman, with a letter headed paper from the Federal Ministry where the document was found and would insert a telephone number belonging to a member of the syndicate which the businessman or company would contact.

In other cases the fraudsters would call the company or businessman with the phone number found on the business proposal documents. Police sources disclosed that several businessmen and companies across the country fell prey to members of this syndicate and lost millions of naira to their tricks. They, however, ran into trouble when they defrauded the said Alhaji of N14million. It was gathered that the said Alhaji, had submitted his business proposal for a road construction while a member of the syndicated contacted him claiming he was one of the personal assistants of a director in the ministry where the Alhaji submitted his proposal and that he was asked to inform the Alhaji that his proposal was being looked into.

The fraudsters were said to have later made the Alhaji believe that if he must get his contract approved, he would have to pay certain amount of money to some top officials at the ministry who would approve and award the contracts to him. It was learned that after the said Alhaji had paid the sum of N14million, he suddenly realized that he had been defrauded as all the fraudsters were already on the run and all their phone-lines switched off. Police sources disclosed that the Alhaji then wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Adamu Mohammed, alerting him about activities of members of the syndicate. The IGP, was said to have swiftly deployed his operatives at the IRT, who launched a manhunt for the members of the syndicates.

It was learnt that after weeks of tracking, four members of the syndicate including its leader Uche Ujokwu were arrested. During interrogation Ujokwu, confessed to the crime saying he became a fraudster because he was once a victim of fraud. He said he lost all the money he was using to do his business. He also said that after he attempted to get back his money, the people who defrauded him asked him to join them. He said he brought in the police but the police couldn’t help and he was left with no option but to join them. The 48-year-old said; “I reside in Suleja area of Niger State, but I am from Aboh Mbese area of Imo State. I am a trader, but I became a fraudster after I was defrauded of N175,000 by some people who claimed they would mint some money for me at Jabi area of Abuja sometime in 2006.

When I realized that I had been defrauded, I tried to get back my money by getting the police involved but they couldn’t help. I went peacefully to members of the syndicate who told me that the only way that I could get back my money was to join them. They taught me the business and I started duping people using the same method. I travelled to Ghana and spent five years there and when I came back, I formed a new syndicate, our targets were businessmen and companies looking for government contracts. We sourced information about our victims through waste bins around Federal Ministries around Abuja. We got a lot of victims and duped them.

The case that got me into trouble was that of the N14million, belonging to Alhaji. We found his proposal for road construction and his phone number was on it. “We called him, sold the dummy that we were working at the Federal Ministry of Works and his proposal was being considered. We deceived him into paying us some money upfront for the cost of the contract and he fell for it. “We all disappeared after the money was paid but I didn’t know how the police trailed us and they have closed down my office in Suleja”, he stated. Another suspect, Lucky Paul, 33, in his confession said his late sister introduced him to the gang.

The Delta State born fraudster said; “I went into fraud because I was looking for money to start my barbing saloon business and my sister who is late was the person who initiated me into the fraud business. My sister was a member of the syndicate that duped a lot of people and after her death I took her place in the syndicate. Our method was to call people, tell them that we wanted to give them contracts. We used to get people looking for contracts from the dustbins around federal ministries secretariat Abuja”.

Credits: Vanguard