INTERNET RATS:They have
N23 million in their accounts, being proceeds from wire fraud
By
OLUWATOYOSI OGUNSEYE
Thursday,
February 15, 2007
 |
Silas
Aniekan
•Photo: Sun News Publishing |
| |
A father of two young men recently
got the shock of his life when he discovered that despite the fact that his family
was wallowing in poverty, his sons were millionaires
The man, Mr. Silas,
was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when operatives
of the commission picked up his sons, Silas Stephen Uwem and Silas Aniekan for
having N23 million in their bank accounts.
Unknown to their father, who
lives in a one-room with his family, his sons and their friends were raking in
millions of naira from internet fraud.
The cat was, however, let out of
the bag when, on Friday, May 5 2006, Aniekan went to a Lagos-based bank to make
a withdrawal of N5,000 from his account.
When the application was processed,
it was discovered that he had less than N1,000 in the account.
Aneikan allegedly
got another form for a withdrawal from another account belonging to his friend
Kennedy Aifuwa.
Posing as the real owner and having supplied the account
number correctly, the teller officer noticed that he had seen him earlier. A thorough
check of the mandates of the account was conducted which was at variance with
the information supplied by Aniekan.
It was at this stage that the bank
officials suspected a foul play. The bank conducted a close check on the account
and discovered that it had a lodgment turnover of over N5 million and the owner
of the account, Kennedy Aifuwa, was contacted.
Aifuwa, contacted Aniekan’s
elder brother, Silas Stephen and both of them went to the bank. Unknown to them,
the bank had alerted operatives of the EFCC.
A source at the commission
said: "They walked straight into our net. The suspects tried to compromise
the bank officers through tips to get Aniekan off the hook. Their overtures became
more suspicious when they discovered that Silas, 26, has an account with the bank
with a lodgment turnover of over 18 million. We also discovered that Aniekan was
not as successful as others."
Painstaking investigations revealed that
the three suspects were Internet fraudsters popularly known as "Yahoo Yahoo
boys."
On getting to the premises of the commission, Stephen claimed
that the account which had over N18 million belonged to his father. The old man
was contacted and he confirmed that the account was his. He told the investigators
that the highest amount he had ever lodged in the account was N200,000. when he
heard that his son had over N18 million in the account, he screamed: "Stephen,
you mean you have so much money and we are wallowing in poverty."
When
Stephen realized that the game was up, he sought to plead bargaining with Justice
Abubakar Tijani of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, where Stephen was charged on
a 14-count charge bordering on money laundering and internet fraud. While delivering
judgment , the judge said the 28-year jail term would run concurrently, while
the convict also forfeited the balance in his bank account.
While Stephen has
been convicted, his two accomplices, Aniekan and Kennedy, are still standing trial. |
