Awoleye Joshua Oliwatofunmi, a 23-year-old student at the Kwara State Polytechnic in Ilorin, has been detained by the state police command on suspicion of defrauding Vonapolous Moss, an African-American woman from the American state of Indiana.
The victim was reportedly led to Ilorin from America by accused online fraudster Awoleye under the guise of being an American citizen.
Parading the suspect in Ilorin on Friday at the state police command headquarters, the Police Commissioner, Paul Odama, disclosed that “preliminary investigation revealed that Awoleye, who is a suspected internet fraudster, presented himself to the victim on TikTok, a social media platform as an American by the name Howard Adams and ripped her of about 1,000 US dollars.
“The suspect later took a step further by luring the victim to fly into Nigeria on January 9,2023 through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, in Lagos, after which she flew into Ilorin the next day and was received by the suspect.”
The victim was also defrauded of an unknown sum of US dollars, according to the Police Commissioner, before being saved by state command police officers.
The required authorities have been alerted, according to Paul Odama, who also said that the victim who was saved has been relocated to secure custody by the state police command until her return travel to the United States of America.
The Police Commissioner committed to see to it that justice is done in order to act as a deterrence to potential offenders in the online fraud industry, which he said had damaged the country’s reputation in the international community of countries.
In response to a question, Paul Odama stated that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will not be involved in the case.
“The police also have the mandate to handle such matters and we will do a diligent prosecution to ensure that justice is served accordingly,” he declared.
