Alarm In Lagos Markets, As Fraudsters Target 125 Business Owners

No fewer than 125 businessmen operating in some of Lagos’ major markets have been pencilled down as potential victims by suspected fraud syndicates, in what the police described as a disturbing web of calculated targeting.

According to the police, the gang studied successful traders, identified the commodities they dealt in and devised different schemes to lure them into what appeared to be lucrative business deals.

But the operation reportedly went beyond fraud. In some cases, victims were kidnapped and held hostage until their families or associates paid ransom.

One such case involved a tyre merchant who, according to the police, was lured to the Aiyetoro-Itele area of Ogun State, where members of one of the syndicates held him captive and collected about N24 million in ransom before releasing him.

Arrests expose wider operation
The development came to light following the arrest of seven suspected members of two fraud syndicates by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Lagos State Police Command, headed by CSP Sunday Cirman.

The breakthrough reportedly came when one of the gangs lured a cloth seller to Ayobo, Lagos, apparently unaware that the police were already closing in. Three members of the gang were arrested in the ensuing operation, leading investigators to uncover a list containing the names of more than 125 business operators lined up for similar schemes.

The suspects reportedly described themselves as “local 419”, a Nigerian slang for fraudsters who obtain money or property through deception.

A police source said: “The two groups use different tactics but their mode of operation is that they target prospective investors or traders but ended up defrauding them in the process.”

From failed business to ‘caller’
One of the suspects, 61-year-old Patrick Nwankwo, the journey into the fraud business began, by his account, with a failed business, the death of his wife and the struggle to survive afterwards.

At a time, the business failed and at that time, I lost my wife. I used the small money that was remaining with me to bury my late wife.

“I started as a ‘Caller’. A caller is a person who goes out to identify and speak with our prospective victims. We identify businessmen. After this, we lied to them that someone was in need of large supply of any particular commodity and for them to supply. We usually use bicycle spare parts as the needed commodity.

“Another member of the gang will serve as the receiver. Once they supplied those items to him, we will disappear from that address. Our base is in Ogun State but we target businessmen at popular market, including: Oshodi, Arena, Idumota, Alaba Trade Fair markets. We already have our target and what they sell.

“We don’t pray for gullible people to finish. Gullible people cannot finish in Nigeria. They want to get very rich quick and we take advantage of that.”

‘I get 10% of their proceeds’ – Obi
Sixty-year-old Emeka Obi also said he became involved after falling victim to another gang.

According to him: “After serving my boss for six years and I had my own shop, somebody told me that they had drugs in large quantity but, when I got to where I was to get the drugs, I saw large quantity of American dollar. I didn’t know that they were fake. I was asked to deposit the N400,000 that was with me. That was a large money then in 1990.

“Initially, after collecting my money, they ran away but after they came back, I asked to join them and since then I have made more than the N400,000 that I lost to them.

“I used to be a caller but now I am old. I only allow them to use my office for their operations and I get only ten percent of whatever they get from their victims”.

‘My wife left me because of hardship – Okeke
Another suspect, 47-year-old Charles Okeke, a shoemaker in Aba, Abia State, said the journey followed a failed attempt to travel abroad.

Hear him: “I joined the syndicate in 2018, when I was duped, while trying to travel out. One Mr Eze took me to Ghana. He promised to take me to Europe or America but abandoned me in Ghana.

“I started looking for something to do. I met some Nigerians there. I was into shoe making but the money was nothing to write home about. I met a boy, Chukwudi and a Ghanaian, Jojome. They invited me to join them and we duped people, under the guise of washing money for them. They lured people with gold.

“Later my mother died and I had to come back to Nigeria for her burial. When my family saw my situation, they advised that I should not return to Ghana. They said that I was not doing well.

“Because of hardship, my wife left with my two children. It was while I was looking for what to do that I met Emeka, through one of our town brothers, who was also into the fraud business but had quit,” the suspect said.

Fifty-three-year-old Emmanuel Ekenta, an indigene of Awka, Anambra State, said he was once a successful businessman exporting plates to Ghana.

“I was exporting plates to Ghana then and I was doing well. Problem started, when I was duped at the Togo border. Ghana people and some Nigerians duped me. They lied to me that they wanted to wash dollar for me in 2006.”

“After I was duped, I requested to join them and they directed me to their boss in Lagos. He is the one who taught me how to dupe and I worked with him for six years”, he stated.

How the ‘catcher’ and ‘sitter’ worked
Ekenta also described the roles played by different members of the group.

He explained that “What we do is that one of us, usually the catcher, will pose as a sailor and a foreigner, who just arrived Lagos with goods for sale. We would then tell our prospective victim that he would make huge money by selling these non existent goods.

“After agreeing to sell the goods, the catcher will pretend to take them to the place, where the goods are kept but instead take them to our base, where we introduce them to dollar washing business. It is the normal thing of telling them that we have dollar but we need chemical to wash it.

They will be asked to pay for the chemical. That is how we collect money from them.

“There is also usually the ‘sitter’, who sits at our base. He would corroborate whatever the ‘catcher’ already told the victims. He would lie to them. He would pretend to be the younger brother of the Customs officer that cleared the goods.”

Another suspect, 46-year-old Uchenna Paul, a former foodstuffs seller, said he joined the group after being duped of his master’s money while on a trip from Abia State to Lagos to buy stockfish.

No room for criminals – Police
For the more than 125 business operators identified as potential targets, the arrests may have disrupted a carefully planned operation.

Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, SP Abimbola Adebisi, said the development reaffirmed Commissioner of Police, CP Fatai Tijani’s determination to make the state uninhabitable for criminals.