Police operatives attached to the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan have arrested two suspected international fraudsters that specialise in forging certificates of different international and African Universities.
According to police sources, the suspects, 23-year-old Elvis Osakpolo Edokpain and 24-year-old Kelly Osas Endgieen, also specialize in defrauding their unsuspecting victims on the internet and have succeeded in acquiring exotic cars and erecting mansions in different parts of the country with the proceeds of their loot.
The suspects also attempted to bribe their way out of the police net with an offer of a #66 million (sixty-six million naira ) bribe, which was rejected by the police.
It was gathered that the tables turned for the suspects after detectives at the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Zone received credible information from overseas concerning some group of boys that specialize in forging foreign universities ‘ certificates.
Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the Zone, Adegoke Fayoude detailed the Anti-Corruption Unit of Zone 2 to investigate it. He reportedly gave matching orders that they must be rounded up without delay.
Police detectives stormed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, and as soon as the suspects arrived, they trailed them to a five-star hotel in Osapa-London in the Lekki area of the state.
It was gathered that on searching their luggage, one certificate from Blue Crest College, Ghana, belonging to Elvis Osakpolo Edokpiain, was recovered, and a student identity card from Academic City College was also recovered from Kenny Osas.
Further investigation revealed a transcript of an academic record from Blue Crest University belonging to Elvis Osapolo.
Going through the search again, detectives discovered a letter of English proficiency from the said college and a letter of recommendation from the same Blue Crest College.
The suspects made useful statements to the police and confessed that they never got any admission into the school and that they procured the degree certificate through the help of a female Nigerian resident in Ghana.
The suspects further stated that the major aim of doing that was to enable them to acquire a Ghana resident permit, which they had already
They reportedly paid a total of 26,000 Ghana cedis to procure the documents.
According to the suspects in their confessional statements, whenever police intercept them, they will show their passports that they are students because they didn’t have any means of livelihood in Ghana.
On further interrogation, they confessed that they do fraudulent activities, such as online romance scams and the provision of foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions on the internet through what they call ‘ Facebook bombing’.
The suspects said, “We meet people online and present ourselves as an American soldier by the name Captain Donald Rowe, whom we are impersonating on Instagram.
“He is a captain of the United States of America and is currently on a peacekeeping mission in Syria. While we are engaging our victims, we will tell them that there are goods in Syria that if they are interested in buying, they should pay money, and we will send the goods to them. We will show them pictures of good materials in Syria.”
The suspects continued, “After they make the payment, we use our blockchain wallets to collect the money or foreign bank accounts, which at last are being credited to our Nigerian accounts.
“We have our partners in the UK, South Africa, and other countries, and most of our victims are from Japan, Denmark, China, and other countries.”
Efforts to get the reaction of the image maker in charge of the Zone, SP Umma Ayuba proved abortive.
