EFCC arrests 4 Uniport Undergraduates in Port Harcourt over alleged $111,500 Internet Fraud

Operatives of the Port Harcourt zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC have arrested four students of the University of Port Harcourt for their alleged involvement in internet fraud.

The quartet, who allegedly defrauded 15 victims of $111,500( One Hundred and Eleven Thousand, Five Hundred United States Dollars) are: Prince Hyacinth; Rex Emadifie Oghene, Odili Ifeayi and Uduak Samuel Williams. 

They were picked up on Thursday, August 20, 2020, from their hideout at Chibiak Avenue, Elenpranwo, Ada George, Port Harcourt.

Upon their arrest, the following items were recovered: one Tecno Spark 4 belonging to Prince Hyacinth; one Iphone 11 Pro Max, two Infinix Hot and one apple Laptop belonging to Odili Ifeayi; one Iphone 7 and two Iphone 11 belonging to Rex Emadifie Oghene and one iphone 8+, one Acer Laptop and one HP Laptop belonging Uduak Samuel Williams.

A preliminary investigation established that the suspects are majorly involved in a romance scam and also act as pickers for organized ring of fraudsters.

While Prince Hyacinth parades himself as a Spain-based marine engineer to bait his victims, Rex Emadifie Oghene poses as a rig engineer based in the United State. The two other suspects, Odili Ifeayi and Uduak Samuel Williams present themselves as rig/marine engineers to defraud their victims.

The suspects will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.

How Police stop sale of day old baby in Port Harcourt

The sale of a day old baby was aborted by the Rivers state police command on Tuesday August 11. 

Rivers state police spokesperson, SP Nnamdi Omoni who confirmed this said operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad stopped the sale at Igwuruta, Ikwerre Local government area of the state and also arrested a 56-year-old woman identified as Florence Jonah in connection to the crime. 

It was alleged that she conspired with the father of the child to sell the baby to waiting buyers at the cost of Nine Hundred Thousand Naira (N900,000). The father of the baby who was also arrested led security operatives to Better life Clinic in Eneka, where the child was recovered and handed over to his real mother, Rejoice Izuchukwu. 

The statement read; 

“Operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in a covert operation at the early hours of today 11/8/2030 cracked a Child Trafficking Syndicate at Igwuruta, Ikwerre LGA,where one Florence Jonah, a 56 year old woman was arrested.

“She is alleged to have conspired with the father of the child, one Izuchukwu Success to sell him to waiting buyers at a cost of Nine Hundred Thousand Naira (900,000).

“Upon his arrest, the father led the Police to Better life Clinic, Eneka, where the child who had been sold, was eventually recovered and handed over to his real mother, Rejoice Izuchukwu. Both mother and child are in stable condition.

“The suspects arrested are: Florence Jonah ‘f’ 56yrs, Ogum Ifeoma ‘f’ 22yrs, Beauty Nnodim ‘f’ 25yrs, Isabella Chika ‘f’ 20yrs’ and Blessing Udoh ‘f’ 20yrs."

The suspects are reportedly helping the Command in its investigation and will be charged to court soon.