The Lagos State Police Command has arrested five men who posed as estate agents for allegedly defrauding a newly-wed couple of N900, 000, being rent for a three-bedroom flat in Ikeja.
The suspects are Elabor Aruoya, who allegedly posed as the landlord; Adeshina Abegunde, who provided the accounts used for perpetrating the fraud; Olamide Ojajinu, who took the victims to the house; Segun Adewale and Matthew Adeniyi.
The Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Mu’azu, while parading the suspects during a press briefing on Wednesday, said the command received a distress call from the newly-wed couple that the suspects, who posed as agents, collected N900,000, from them as rent for a three-bedroom flat, and were unreachable afterwards, adding that investigation led to the arrest of the suspects.
The Commissioner of Police disclosed that the agents placed a notice of a three-bedroom apartment for rent on a wall in Ikeja, which the couple indicated interest in.
He said that when the couple called the phone number on the notice, one of the suspects who took the call claimed he had travelled out of the country and sent another phone number to the couple, which he claimed was that of his partner.
The couple later met the partner who took them to Agindigbi area of Ikeja where he showed them a vacant three-bedroom flat.
“The partner informed the couple that the landlord was in church and led them to a Catholic church at Ikeja.
“On arrival, an elderly man came out from the church hall and said to the victim, ‘Are you the lucky tenant’?
“Having brainwashed the couple that he is the landlord to the house, he (husband) transferred the sum of N900, 000 to the suspects.
“The following day, when the couple went to the house, they were chased out by the rightful landlord.
“They called the phone numbers of the acclaimed house agents and that of the landlord but their numbers were switched off,” he said.
The Commissioner said that the police later arrested the five suspects.
He said that investigation revealed that the same gang of fraudsters, on Dec. 15, 2018, allegedly collected N3 million for a duplex at Ikeja GRA in the same manner, from a victim who is a pastor at Lekki.
Muazu added that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.
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