A
56-year-old man, one Felix Onyebuchi, who is in police net in Enugu for
allegedly using fraudulent means to withdraw the sum of N11m from the account
of a bank customer, has blamed “lack” for his venture into crime.
Onyebuchi,
a native of Osa-Ukwu, in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, but based
in Lagos, was paraded alongside other criminals by the Enugu State Police
Command.
Enugu
State commissioner of police, Mr. NwodiboEkechukwu, disclosed that Onyebuchi
was a member of a sophisticated syndicate that specialised in stealing and
manipulating bank data.
According
to the police chief, the syndicate usually applied to mobile telecommunication
service providers to ‘welcome-back’ registered phone numbers that belong to
their potential victims.
In the process, according to Ekechukwu, they block the real account owners and,
through the phone numbers, get access to sensitive personal information,
including bank data.
Once they obtain the relevant bank data, members of the
syndicate are able to make withdrawals from their victims’ bank accounts, the
commissioner of police added.
Ekechukwu further explained that Onyebuchi’s arrest followed
complaints made by a Port-Harcourt-based customer of an old generation bank,
who notified the police of a series of unauthorised withdrawals from his
account.
The victim, whose identity was not disclosed, had informed
the police that the withdrawals were made from the Enugu branch of his bank,
which was also not named.
The police commissioner added that, following investigations,
Onyebuchi was arrested while he was attempting to withdraw N50m from another
potential victim’s account.
Onyebuchi is currently in police custody, as further
investigation into his activities, and that of his syndicate, continues.
However, in a short encounter with journalists when he was
paraded, the suspect said he ventured into crime because of “lack.”
But journalists observed that he did not look like somebody
who lacked money.
Reacting to the newsmen’s observations, the alleged fraudster
asked, “How can you tell who is lacking money from physical appearance?
“It is the state of the pocket that determines whether one is
lacking, or not,” he added.
Onyebuchi also claimed that he did not steal money from any
bank customer.
According to him, he was only caught in the process of
stealing.
“I was caught while attempting to take money from an account
in UBA.
“I have not taken money from anybody, I was just about to
take money when I was arrested,” he said.
Amaraizu said the suspect will be charged to court soon.
FOR MORE STORIES VISIT CKN NEWS SOCIAL MEDIA
PLATFORMS:
Twitter: @CKNNigeria
Facebook: CKNNigeria
CKN NEWS Hotline: 08080054001
Whatsapp: 08099677755
BBM : 2BE329DF
Website: www.cknnigeria.com
Tags
Business