Three men are in police custody for allegedly attempting to dupe a foreigner of millions of naira.
The suspects - Eze Lucky, 48; Afolabi Alabi, 41; and Smart Eze, 51 - were arrested on June 28th at Ikoyi by detectives from the Onikan Police Station, following a tip off from their victim.
The suspects pretended to be powerful clergymen who had the ability to turn water into wine. They accosted their victim, a Zimbabwean, who owns a unisex boutique at Ikoyi, and convinced her to part with a huge sum, which they intended to use to help her get a husband and more patronage from customers.
Luck, however, ran out on them when the victim became suspicious and decided to report the matter to the police. The police officers told her to play along with the scammers who had agreed to collect the money from her at the Ikoyi hotel..
As soon as the suspects collected the money and were about to drive off, the detectives who were positioned in strategic positions, rounded them up and took them to the station.
Narrating her ordeal in the hands of the fake pastors, the victim, who identified herself as Juliana, said: “I was walking along the road at Ikoyi, on June 27th, when a man who was driving in a Mercedes Benz car stopped in front of me and was asking for direction. They said they were going to the Church Assumption at Ikoyi, but I told them that I did not know the church. As we were talking, another man walked up to me and said he will assist, and he looked into the car and started screaming, ‘don’t you know this man? He is a powerful man of God, and he can solve your problem.’ He then asked me if I do not want prayers, and I said ‘yes.’
“I entered their car and they took me to a place where they started praying, telling me that I need to bring money for the prayers to work. To convince me, they brought a canned milk and prayed, and the milk became water. They asked me to go home and get more money. This was after they had collected my phones and the little cash I had. I went home and the next day, the pastor kept calling, asking me not to tell anybody about the money; that if I tell anybody, the prayer will not work. They even asked me to bring their sizes of shoes and clothes from my boutiques. I was able to get N200, 000, but I became suspicious, and told a policeman about it, and he told me that it was a scam,” Miss Juliana narrated.
One of the suspects, Mr. Lucky, from Imo State and a father of four, who was the brain behind the scam, said he became a scammer because he wanted his own share of the national cake.
“I am not a pastor, and I do not have any power to help anybody. I used to sell electronics at Yaba, but the government demolished my shop. Left with nothing to do, I called the other suspects and told them about the idea, of duping rich people. When I met the lady at Ikoyi, I introduced myself as a powerful man of God, and the lady opened up to me. She told me that she had a senator boyfriend in Abuja who helped her to open the boutique at Ikoyi for N5.5 million. So I said, she is enjoying oil money so me too, I should use her brain and collect my share of the national cake. So, that was why I decided to dupe her.”
The police spokesperson, Frank Mba, said Lagosians must be very careful, especially when they are dealing with strangers.
“People should be confident in the police, and report suspicious characters to the nearest police stations. The suspect will be charged to court as soon as we are through with our investigations,” Mr. Mba said.
