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| Oluwole Photo: RRS |
A 100-level part-time
student of a journalism institute, Falope Oluwole, has been arrested by the
Lagos State Police Command for allegedly duping no fewer than 33 men.
Media
report continues:
Oluwole,
a 22-year-old undergraduate, was alleged to have posted the photo of a United
States female makeup artist, Shayla, on his Instagram page, through
which he duped the unsuspecting men who asked for a relationship.
It
was gathered that the suspect’s movement had been monitored by operatives of
the Rapid Response Squad for some weeks.
He
was trailed to a club in Ikeja City Mall where he was arrested eventually on
Thursday.
It
was gathered that the suspect recently celebrated his birthday at an upscale
nightclub in Lekki, Lagos, where he reportedly lavished over ₦500,000 on food
and drinks.
A
source said Oluwole’s activities on Instagram were placed under
investigations when the police received a complaint about
an Instagram handle @blackberbiedoll,
used for criminal activities, which was later traced to him.
The
suspect was also reported to have maintained @froshwhite007 and @froshwhite separately
on Instagram for the same criminal intent.
One
of his victims, who identified himself only as Bernard, said he got a
friendship request from @blackberbiedoll,
adding that he accepted it thinking that a female owned the account.
He
said, “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. At a point,
she lied that she was building a beauty outfit in the Ikota Shopping Mall,
VGC, and that she was in need of some money to complete the mall.
“I
had to transfer N1m to her. Weeks later, I got suspicious of the account name,
Oluwole Israel Oluwaseun Falope. I ran a search on Google and that
was when I discovered it was a scam.”
Another
victim, who did not want to be identified, said he paid ₦100,000 into the
suspect’s account “to support her fashion outfit.”
Oluwole,
in his statement to the police, said he started the fraudulent act about two
years ago, adding that he had duped no fewer than 33 men on Instagram.
He
said the least amount he received from any of his victims was ₦80,000.
He
said, “When I started, much as I pretended to be a lady on the phone, some men
didn’t believe me. I then downloaded an application on Google store,
which transformed my voice into that of a lady whenever I had a conversation. I
got several pictures of Shayla, a pretty US lady, on my profile. Since then,
men started disturbing me and calling to request a date.
“What
I do is to assess people based on their appearance on Instagram. I add
them and thereafter open up conversations with them before I bring up all kinds
of stories to dupe them. At a point, I lied to most of them that I had an
accident and I lost my ATM card. I told them that I needed some money. Some of
them were generous enough to send money into my account.
“I
even lied to them that I was putting up a boutique and saloon at Ikota, VGC and
Lekki, and that I needed money.”
Investigations
revealed that the owner of the pictures the suspect used, @Shayla, had complained to Instagram that some Nigerians
were using her photos to scam unsuspecting members of the public.
It
was also learnt that the suspect claimed to be a friend of Toke Makinwa, Tonto
Dike, Don Jazzy, Peter Okoye, among other top celebrities.
Our
source added that Oluwole’s claim about being a mixed race was also a lie; rather,
he bleached his skin.
“He
admitted bleaching his skin to escape the taunting of girls that he was ugly,”
the source said.
Items
recovered from the suspect included, one iPhone 6, one Samsung Galaxy A5, one
Apple tablet, hand and neck chains, some cash and a handbag.
The
Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, warned members of the public
to be wary of those they talked to on the social media, saying scammers were on
the prowl worldwide.
“The
suspect has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and
Intelligence Department for further investigations,” she added.
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