CyberSecurity@ITRealms:
Falope Oluwole Israel, a 22-year old suspect arrested
by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command,
has disclosed that he duped over 33 men while pretending to be a lady on
Instagram.
Falope it was revealed, was arrested when officials of
the RRS decoy team, who had been monitoring him for some weeks, trailed him to
a popular club in Ikeja City Mall on Thursday evening, before arresting him.
The officers were reported to have monitored him, and
those that he was interacting with at the club before arresting him and a
colleague late in the night.
It was gathered that the suspect recently celebrated his
birthday at Hard & Rock, Lekki, Lagos, week before his arrest, where he
lavished over half a million on foods and drinks.
The suspect, a 100 level part time student of the
Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos, who confessed committing the
crime, said that he has been in the business for more than two years.
The Police revealed that Falope’s activities on Instagram
was placed under investigations when it received a complaint about an Instagram
handle @blackberbiedoll, used for criminal activities, which was later traced
to him.
Apart from @blackberbiedoll, which he prominently used
for fraudulent activities, he maintained @froshwhite007 and @froshwhite
separately for same purpose.
The complainant, Bernard stated that he got a friend
request from @blackberbiedoll. “Apparently, the picture on the account was that
of a lady. The lady in question messaged me on BBM. Honestly, I thought I was
chatting with a woman who claimed to be in Nigeria at the time.
“She lied to me that her father was a Nigerian and her
mum, a Kenyan, and so we got talking. At a point, she lied that she was
building a beauty outfit in Ikota Shopping Mall, VGC and that she was in need
of some money to complete the mall,” Bernard added.
He explained further, “I had to transfer N1 million to
her. Weeks later, I got suspicious of the account name Olawole Israel
Oluwaseun Falope. I ran a search on Google, and then discovered it was all
scam.... Immediately, I reported the incident to Instagram and
that account was blocked and later suspended to prevent others from falling
victim.”
Another victim, who did not want his identity disclosed
said he paid N100,000 into her account to support her bogus fashion outfit.
Admitting the allegation, the suspect noted that since he
started the fraudulent act about 2 years ago, he had duped no fewer than 33 men
pretending to be a lady on Instagram and that the least amount he received from
any of them was N80,000.
“When I started, much as I pretended to be a lady on
phone, some men on the other side didn’t believe me. I then downloaded an app
on Google which transformed my voice into that of a lady whenever I am having
conversation.... I got several pictures of Shayla, a pretty United States
based lady on my profile. Since then, men have been disturbing me and calling
to request for a date,” he stated.
He said, “What I do is that I assess people based on
their appearance on Instagram, add them and thereafter open up conversations
with them before I start bringing up all manners of stories in order to dupe
them.... At a point, I lied to most of them that I had an accident
and I lost my ATM. I told them that I need some money. Some of them were
generous enough to drop money into my account.”
“I lied to them that I was putting up a boutique and saloon at Ikota, VGC and Lekki,
and that I need money to finish setting up.... I know I made a mistake downloading Shayla’s pictures and
used them for fraudulent purposes. I am telling you the truth, those that I
have collected money from cant be more than 33,” he explained.
Investigations revealed that the owner of the profile
pictures the suspect used, @Shayla had complained to Instagram that some
Nigerians were using her profile pictures to scam unsuspecting members of the
public.
It was also disclosed that the suspect claimed to be a
friend of Toke Makinwa, Tonto Dike, Don jazzy, Peter Okoye, Toyin Aihmaku, Tee
Y Mix, Oristsefemi, Timaya, Sean Tizzle, Dami Adenuga, Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga
jnr, Ramsey Noah e.t.c.
“I know all of them. I attend a lot of shows, I meet
them, take photographs with them, even exchange numbers. Like sister Toke
Makinwa, Tonto Dike, Uncle Ramsey Noah, these are the kind of celebrities I
look up to and I want to be like them,” he stated.
But RRS investigators confirmed that he was following a
lot of Nigerian celebrities on Instagram but they could not confirm if any of
them fell prey to Falope's antics, as many his Instagram chats with them got no
response.
They added that a Ghanian business man who Falope claimed
to have met at a popular club in Nigeria rebuffed his request to engage him in
a chat.
They noted that Falope claims of been a half-cast,
Fashion designer, stylist, cosmetologist, model were all part his fraud to make
people fall for him. He was never a trainee or a specialist in any of this.
Our source added that he is not an half-cast as he
claimed to be, rather he bleached his skin.
"He didn’t deny this claim. He admitted bleaching
his skin to escape the taunting of girls that he was a very ugly guy,” the
source stated.
Items recovered from the suspect included, an iphone 6, 1
Samsung Galaxy A5, an Apple tablet, hand and neck chains, some new notes and a
handbag.
Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Suprintendent Dolapo Badmos, warned Nigerains to be careful on the
internet because scammers are on the prowl worldwide.
The suspect has been transferred to State Criminal
Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigations.
Courtesy: RRSLagos
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