ON Friday, January 11, 2019, three hellish scammers—two men and a woman (Rita Eke, most likely a fictitious name just like her co-conspirators)—working in liaison cloned Dr. Alex Otti’s number and his voice (yes, on grounds of his quintessential Abia State governorship electioneering and scintillatingly profound public presentations being a first-class economist!) to fleece me of N450,000. The target really was N15 million if I had not swiftly retraced on reflection on my way to Diamond and Sterling banks for the transfer of the second tranche worth N14, 550,000.
The money was lodged into the account of one UMAR MUSBAUDEEN TUNDE on that ill-fated Friday at 01.32 p. m. Account number: 5858027015/First City Monument Bank (FCMB). I still have the debit alert in my handset. This is the first and last time I will be a victim of horrendous dupery. It happened in the first place because of the respect I have for Dr. Otti and our robust relationship. In the past, I had received thousands of such calls and multi-media messages, which I promptly dismissed.
The dastardly numbers used (excluding Dr. Otti’s cloned number) for the heinous swindle were: 08030440085 (whose owner/coordinator impersonated Dr. Otti through telephonic engagements with me) and 08148207282 used by the modern-day Jezebel pseudonymously called Madam Rita who claimed that their gang had a warehouse somewhere in Iyana-Ipaja, a suburb of Lagos, from where she carries out her duplicitous enterprise.
She was the fraudster who sent the FCMB account detail after purporting to have a large stock of standard treatment hand gloves—which the impersonating Alex said were urgently needed in “Umuahia Specialist Hospital” in Abia State, where Dr. Alex Otti is currently engaging stakeholders on the anticipatory redemption of the diseased state. This vicious dupery took place four days after I had written here about the inevitable emergence of Dr. Otti as the next governor of Abia, the worst state in the country in the past consecutive 11 years-plus. The swindlers somewhat capitalized on that editorial profile for their criminality.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and First City Monument Bank (FCMB) should investigate this case and unmask the electronic bandits before they feast on more Nigerians and foreigners.
It is this kind of syndicate that sends messages to unsuspecting bank customers after cloning bank websites telling them to send their personal identification numbers (PINs) for one transactional purpose or another on a daily basis, relentlessly. It is amazing that some people still fall victims of these online fraudsters. Mine is an exceptional case, cruelly coincidental and inexplicably circumstantial.
The bank account (above) used to siphon this money must have a BVN. On the part of FCMB, there should be Know Your Customer (KYC) critical element. The stories that I have heard that people open accounts for ad hoc purposes and close them down after thievish deployment are balderdash. In these days of BVN, banks and account holders should be held liable for any third-party intrusion or unauthorized utility of any account.
I worked in two banks at managerial levels. You cannot open an account without a national means of identification to wit: National I.D. Card, Permanent Voter’s Card, National Passport, Driver’s Licence, passport-sized photograph of the prospective account holder and current utility bill like Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria (PHCN) document.
And immediately after opening of the account, physical verification of addresses and other constituents on the account opening forms takes place before major transactions are authorized on the account. This is one of the ways to foreclose or minimize fraud.
Pursuant to the foregoing banking principle, the crap about ad hoc banking customer-institutional relationship is antithetical to best business practices and the threshold of trust that defines financial management vis-à-vis clientele background check and reckoning. My angst is not the loss of money, but the seamlessness of the fraud, which is made roguishly hassle-free for the criminals because banks do not carry out thorough investigations into the background of prospective customers.
The obsession is to open as many bank customer accounts as possible without due diligence as statutorily required by law and other extant banking ethics.
For new IGP, FPRO & Lagos CP
I congratulate the new Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Adamu Mohammed, on his appointment that has begun on two good notes by his immediate restoration of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, who had been hastily transferred to Abuja to head the Police Explosive Ordinance Department.
In the two past decades or thereabouts, no police boss in Lagos had been as effective as politically-embattled Edgal. I understand that he is too close to the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, and that they were classmates at a point. The rest is conjectural and not the subject of this intervention. If the redeployment is a normal movement of officers, the timing is absolutely suspicious. The matter is even worsened by the fact that his replacement, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, was the ADC to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when he was governor.
The second right step that the new IGP has taken is the reappointment of diligent ACP Frank Mba as the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO). Mba’s eminent pedigree conditioned by competency, scholarship, professionalism and public relational panache, makes him the best man for the job that demands distinction.
The demonstration of his capacity in police reputational and perceptive management will manifest presently. I have never met him, but his unparalleled antecedents speak volumes of his character and passion for image re-engineering. I have the conviction that IGP Adamu will reposition the police with the laudable and illuminative way he has started. It is my supplication that the forces of darkness and retrogressive elements will not pull him down, insha Allah.
IGP Adamu: the other four issues—in no particular order—you may consider taking up decisively much later are roadblocks/motorized checkpoints. Whatever name it is given, it is sheer extortion and intimidation of citizens—nothing else that has to do with security. Nothing gives the police a bad name as much as this highway and neighbourhood street deviancy. It is like official banditry nationwide, especially Lagos! The second issue is the tinted glass stuff. It has become a source of additional income for your officers and men because of needless conflicting directives on the matter. Of course, there are the sore areas of non-promotion of cops and favouritism in the force.
Lastly, cases of politicians detained on trumped-up charges by your predecessor should be addressed as soon as possible, please.
From time to time, I will point out other areas that need your attention and optimistic resolution. You are welcome to a promising and self-fulfilling tenure.