Security operatives have arrested two suspects for allegedly defrauding the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia of €2.3 million COVID-19 fund.
In a statement on Sunday, Frank Mba, spokesperson of the
Nigeria police, said the fund was meant for the procurement of personal
protective equipment (PPE).
The suspects, Babatunde Adesanya, 50-year-old master degree
holder in cell biology, and Akinpelu Abass, 41-year-old managing director of
Musterpoint Investment Nigeria Limited, were arrested by the cybercrime unit of
the Nigeria police force and INTERPOL.
The suspects, who are said to be members of a transnational criminal network, were alleged to have cloned the corporate website of ILBN Holdings BV, Holland, to defraud one Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn, a representative of the German state.
“Discrete investigations by INTERPOL Nigeria revealed that
the suspects and their Holland-based cohorts, one Eduardus Boomstra and
Geradius Maulder specialized in identity theft, cyber-stalking, cloning of
corporate websites amongst other cyber mischiefs to defraud unsuspecting
members of the public across the world,” Mba said.
“In this instance, the suspects fraudulently obtained from
Mr Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn the sum of 1.5m Euro and another 880,000 Euro as
advanced payment for the supply of COVID-19 PPEs valued at 14.7million Euros.
Disturbed by the non-arrival of the PPEs, Mr Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn
eventually visited the corporate office of ILBN Holdings BV in Holland to
inquire reasons for the delay in supplying the items only to find out that the
company never did business with him and that the transaction was a scam.
“The fraudsters merely cloned the company’s website and
falsely presented themselves as representatives of the company before
subsequently executing the fraudulent transaction. Consequently, he reported
the case of fraud to the Police in Holland and this led to the arrest of
Eduardus Boomstra and Geradius Maulder in Holland and investigations extended
to Nigeria.
“Investigation by INTERPOL Nigeria further revealed that
Babatunde Adesanya received 498,000 Euro from Eduardus Boomstra and Geradius
Maulder through his Citibank London account and transferred same to an account
number domiciled with a Lagos branch of a leading commercial bank in Nigeria
belonging to Musterpoint Investment Nig. Ltd.”
Mba said the suspects will be arraigned in a court as soon
as possible.
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