Security operatives of the Nigerian Police Force
SECURITY operatives of the Nigerian Police Force, Anambra State Police Command has discovered a new dimension criminals notoriously known as ‘One-Chance’ who steal valuables and defraud unsuspecting citizens currently operate in the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Haruna Mohammed of Anambra State Police Command made the disclosure in a statement through the Command’s Diary on Tuesday in Awka, the state capital.
Mohammed stated that information at the disposal of Anambra State Police Command revealed that fraudsters and one chance syndicates have devised new methods of dispossessing innocent citizens of their hard earned money and other belongings
He said these criminal syndicates migrate from one place to another with same method of stealing or defrauding their unsuspecting victims adding that the Command recently recorded an incident from the group of disgruntled elements.
“Just recently in Awka, a lady whose video went viral on the social media was allegedly lured by some hoodlums inside ‘Jeep’ under false pretense that they were looking for a place and lost bearing. As soon as the lady entered the car, she allegedly loss her senses only to realise later when she regained consciousness that all her money and other valuables were carted away by the syndicate”, he explained.
Further credible information also revealed that another syndicate have devised a method of assessing their victim’s bank accounts through stolen phones or lost ATM Cards, they do this in connivance with some unscrupulous bank officials.
It would be recalled that the Command issued similar alert in September 2018 where fraudsters disguised as CBN staff in-charge of all bank transactions which is nonexistent and place phone calls to their targets whose bio data was downloaded either through Facebook or other social media platforms and then demand from them their date of birth or biometric verification numbers (BVN) in order to gain access to their targets account numbers and subsequently transfer all the money into another account through electronic means.
“Such unwholesome practices are usually perpetrated by persons who instead of channeling their talents through legitimate means of attaining better living conditions in conformity with acceptable norms in the society resorts to criminal acts in order to get rich quickly and by all means” The PPRO stated.
Consequently, the public are enjoined to be wary of this new pattern of crime and immediately report suspicious persons or stolen phones/ATM Cards to the nearest Police Stations and their individual banks to deactivate their accounts.
The public should also refrain from availing their personal information particularly date of birth or biometric identification numbers (BVN) to unauthorized persons in order not to fall victims of these syndicates.