The Lagos State Police Command has arrested three suspected fraudsters
identified as Kola Osho, Oyedepo Adesola and Kola Ademola, who
allegedly specialize in withdrawing money from people’s bank accounts
using dud cheques.
According
to Punch, the police said the suspects usually obtained the cheques
from people who are experts in stealing cheque books from unsuspecting
people, then they will present the cheques to their insider in the bank,
who will dubiously verify the account holder and the signature before
the money could be paid out. Continue...
The men were arrested at
the Pipeline area of Abule-Egba, a suburb in Lagos following a tip off.
While Oyedepo Adesola and Kola Ademola were arrested on Wednesday, July
23, Kola Osho was arrested the following day July 24th. They were
found with two dud cheques belonging to a commercial bank, and some
forged letter-head documents bearing ‘Ministry of Finance & Economic
Development'.
In his confessional statement, 57 year old Osho
who hails from Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, said his desire to pursue a
better life abroad made him get involved in the criminal act of bank
fraud.
"I was formerly doing supplying and clearing business. I
wanted to use the documents the police found on me to process a visa to
the United Kingdom. I got the forged documents from the Internet.
Ademola gave the cheques to me and I returned them because I could not
cash them. He is like a son to me as I am his father’s friend. So, I
sent back all the businesses he brought, because I did not want any
trouble. I used to have insiders in the banks, but I have cut off from
them all. I knew I cheated when I got the forged documents to process my
visa, but I did not have any option. It also did not work out.” he said
Another
suspect, Kola Ademola, 33, who hails from Ikire, Osun State claims to
be a graduate of Business Administration and runs an Educational center.
He said he got the cheque books from a certain Samson he met at
Obalende in Lagos and that they were yet to make any money from the
cheque books, a situation he described as unfortunate.
“I am an
Educational Consultant. That is what I do for a living. I also enroll
pupils for final-year examination. Last year, I met one boy called
Samson who stayed in Obalende, and he was the one who got the cheques
and brought them to me. I don’t know how he got them, but they were
original cheques. We delivered these to the banks insiders who worked on
them, and brought out the cash. But because of the present cashless
policy, we can only withdraw less than N100,000 which would not require
the confirmation from the signatories. This is the third cheque I would
be bringing to Mr. Osho, but he said he does not have any insider in
that particular bank. On the first cheque, he said the account did not
contain much money. The second cheque too was not successful. So, we
have not made any money from these deals. It is just unfortunate.” he
said
The last suspect, Oyedepo Adesola, aged 36, on the other hand
claims to be innocent and was only on a visit to Mr Osho's office when
the police arrested him.
“I hold a Higher National Diploma from a
polytechnic in Oyo State. I studied Accounting and finished in 2007. I
do not know what the police are talking about. I simply came to Osho to
transact a business, and they got me arrested. I am innocent.” he said
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