22-year-old fraudster arrested for duping widows

A 22-year-old man was recently arrested for allegedly defrauding unsuspecting older women.

According to reports from the Victoria Island Police Station, Lagos State, they recently arrested a young man identified as Chinedu Iroko, on the grounds of suspected fraud, carried out through social media.

Chinedu Iroko

22-year-old Chinedu, a secondary school dropout, was said to have targeted rich widows and divorcees through social media.

Chinedu's cup overflowed when a woman whom he defrauded reported to the police. The police set their investigations rolling by going undercover on Facebook and becoming his friend.

One of the policemen who pretended to be a widow, started interacting with Chinedu, who went ahead to ask her for some money after some time. The police lured him in by asking him to come to a certain venue to retrieve the money. He was arrested on getting there, and further investigations showed that he had different aliases with which he defrauded several unsuspecting victims.

Here's what the police had to say:

“The suspect is a secondary school dropout, but he’s very skilled in the use of computer. He frequents Facebook and dating sites. His modus operandi is to go on these social media sites where he takes on the identity of a wealthy Igbo widower living in the United State of America.”

Narrating his own side of the story, Chinedu said:

“The women I target are usually divorcees and widows; these women are desperate to have companions. I lied to them that I live in USA. I do this by posing as a wealthy widower. This widower is an Igbo man and I target Igbo women so that I can communicate with them in Igbo. I’m can’t speak English language fluently.”

The police said Chinedu managed to deceive his victims by saying he was searching for a wife. He would also share several pictures of expensive cars and houses, with hopes of getting the attention of the unsuspecting women.

“The suspect had obtained over N5 million from his victims, using these gimmicks. Luck, however, ran out on him after he duped the last victim.”

Chinedu further explained how he duped his victims successfully. He said:

“I calculated that I will not spend more than 10 days before I achieve my aim. So, what I do is to put pressure on the women, though subtly, so they would part with money. I go as far as introducing them to my fictitious family members. I go on to make series of demands.”These women end up parting with the money, hoping that I would repay them. But after collecting the money, I block their phone numbers from calling me.The least amount I have collected from victims is N300, 000. I have also collected up to N1.5million. I don’t feel I have done anything wrong because I need money to survive”

He has since been charged to the Igbosere Magistrate Court on charges of "obtaining under false pretense."