Police arrest fake lawyer for theft, impersonation

The police in Lagos have arrested a 27-year-old man, Destiny Otubambo, for allegedly parading himself as a lawyer and buying exotic cars, phones and other valuables with false bank transfers.
The Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Edgal Imohimi, confirmed the arrest to newsmen on Monday at Ikeja, advising business owners to be wary of fake bank transfers.
According to Imohimi, on May 12 the suspect allegedly approached a phone retailer at Ikota Shopping Complex, Lekki, Ajah Lagos.
He said: “He introduced himself as Mr. Adeleke, a legal practitioner, and requested for a Techno Camon X-pro phone valued at N77,500.
“He claimed he was cashless and wished to pay through telephone transfer the total sum of N377,500.
“He was given the account details to which the said amount should be credited.
“After few minutes, he claimed he had credited the said sum.
“To prove he had, he showed a debit alert from Zenith account number 2110746005, titled: Destiny Ayo Adeleke.
“Believing it to be true, the shop owner released the phones to him and requested for his phone number.
“Unknown to her that it was a fake alert, the phone number was unreachable and the account number non-existent.”
Imohimi said detectives from Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the local police component, got hold of one Marian Amuche, the girlfriend of the suspect, whose pictures were downloaded from the suspect’s Instagram page.
He said: “Exhibits recovered from him were two Techno phones, One I-phone, 10 SIM cards belonging to different networks, lawyers’ gowns and wigs.
“The said Marian Amuche led detectives to arrest the principal suspect Destiny.
“On interrogation, Destiny confessed to the crime and that he had sold the phones to buyers he met online.”
Speaking on the sidelines of his parade to newsmen, the suspect claimed he was a student of American University but dropped out of school because there was no money to continue his education.
Otubambo said: “I don’t go to court to represent anybody, but I bought the gown and wig for N35,000 just to show off on my Instagram page that I am a lawyer.
“This is my fifth deal in defrauding people
“The first one was in Port Harcourt where I generated a false alert and bought a car for N5 million.
“But the seller did not sense it was false.
“I have a false Zenith Bank account.
“I would falsify the original alert with the use of computer and make it look real.”
Imohimi said investigation was ongoing with a view to understanding the suspect’s modus operandi and discovering other crimes he may have committed through various SIM cards recovered from him.