How Fake EFCC Officer Duped ‘Corrupt’ Government Officials

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have apprehended a man who posed as one of its top officials in Akure, Ondo State.

The suspect, identified as Olubunmo Olalekan, and currently cooling off in the Commission’s custody in Abuja, reportedly paraded himself as an EFCC Principal Detective Superintendent, PDS, in Ondo State and was said to have issued fake invitation letters of the agency to some heads of government bodies in some parts of the country.

A statement by the EFCC disclosed that Olalekan, alongside two others, who are now at large, after dispatching the purported letters to their victims, informing them of petitions of fraud against them, would request for money in order to drop the case.

“His modus operandi is to send out the bulk invitation letters to as many agencies as possible, via courier, claiming to have pending petitions alleging corruption against their heads,” the anti-graft body said in its statement.

The suspect was arrested with fake EFCC invitation letters, 30 GSM SIM cards assorted complimentary cards, a laptop computer and printer. He was nabbed when before he could withdraw the sum of N2 million he had requested from one Asunyikanmu Pius, the Director of Technical Aids Corps, Abuja.

Olalekan had written a letter to Pius informing him fraud allegation against him and also asked him to contact a purported PDS named Adeniyi. But the victim, sensing foul play, alerted the Commission, who asked him to play along “and consequently paid the sum of N2 million into an Access Bank Account as demanded by the suspect.”

“Investigations so far revealed that the suspect has written and distributed over sixty letters purportedly from the Commission to several top officials of ministries, department and agencies. Among them are the chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, Ibadan; Managing Director, NPDC Limited, Sapele Road, Benin City; Professor Idowu Odeyemi, Provost Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences, Jos; Managing Director/Chief Executive Office, Jebba Hydro Electric Plc, Jebba, Niger State; Medical Director, National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State; Dr. Iyela Ajayi, Provost Federal College of Education, Okene, Kogi State and a host of others.

“He would leave a GSM number in the letters asking the agency heads to contact a PDS Adeniyi. Those who fall for the scam are asked to pay money for the purported case against them to be dropped. The syndicate had gone to the extent of issuing clearance letters to those that met their terms,” the EFCC narrated.