Instructor arrested for defrauding American couple

Intelligence gathering has led to the arrest of a young man, who allegedly defrauded a foreigner and his mistress via internet.
The suspect, Olafinraye Adedamola, whom detectives from the Special Fraud Unit, said used to pose as a lady to defraud unsuspecting foreigners via internet, denied being a fraudster, insisting that he was paid by one of his victims some dollars to assist him purchase a building at Ogba, area of Ikeja, Lagos State.
But Adedamola allegedly later confessed to the crime.
It was gathered that an intelligence report dated September 24, 2013 from Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Abuja, addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, Tunde Ogunsakin, alleged that Adedamola opened a USD Domiciliary Account, with number 273/6980678251/0 with the Demurin, Ketu, Lagos Branch of Sterling Bank Plc and through suspicious circumstances, a cumulative sum of $42,497 was paid into the account by unsuspecting victims abroad between August 13, 2013 and September 16, 2013.
The suspected illicit inflows were followed by immediate cash withdrawals by the suspect, who appeared to have no known affiliation with the international depositors.
SFU operatives swung into action and investigation carried out on the domiciliary account revealed that $18,129.92 was still left in the account and a lien was immediately placed on the account.
The suspect was traced to his house address at 7, Agidi Road, Oshogun, Alapere, Ketu, Lagos but he evaded police arrest and his father, a proprietor of a moribund driving school, feigned ignorance of his son’s whereabouts.
However, the fleeing suspect was later apprehended by the police.
Adedamola, who posed as a lady, with Janet as his name, was born in 1989 in Kosofe Local Government Area of Ketu in Lagos State.
He is an artisan, who trained in the construction of aluminum, but currently a driving instructor in his father’s moribund driving school located in Ketu, Lagos.
Initially, he denied the allegation, claiming that he met one Nigerian at a conference in Malaysia, who introduced him to the victim, with the victim requesting that he purchased a property for him in Nigeria, which was the basis for the disbursement of the money into his account.
He said he had already bought a building at Ogba, Ikeja for N4 million and that all the documents are with him.
On further interrogation, the suspect confessed to the allegation and admitted that he is an internet fraudster and that the activities leading to his contact and ultimate swindling of the US citizen, Jac Spradling, and his mistress, Janet Kihr, of $42,497 was done through the internet.
Spokesperson for the SFU, Ngozi Isintume-Agu, who confirmed the incident and arrest of the suspected fraudster, said that investigation was ongoing.
According to Isintume-Agu, efforts were in progress through the appropriate channel to contact the victims of the fraud.
Ogunsakin has also called attention to the current trend in cybercrime.
Some unscrupulous elements in the society now hack into notable organizations’ official websites and parade themselves as employers of labour by advertising for vacancy in their establishments, thereby extorting huge sums of money from prospective applicants.
He alerted members of the public to the nefarious activities of these fraudsters and advised that they should be wary of such fraudulent advertisements, which only serve as a ploy to defraud them of their hard earned money.
“They are hereby advised to cross check any offer for employment with the company before making payment for application processing,” Ogunsakin was quoted as saying.