Judgment day finally came for two Nigerian fraudsters, Tobilola Ibrahim Bakare and Alimi Seun Sikiru as they lost cash and properties in the upscale Lekki axis of Lagos to the Federal Government following their arrest and successful prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
A statement released by the EFCC said the forfeited assets include the sums of N196, 741, 216.82 and N7, 054, 852.01 in bank accounts; two vehicles, a Mercedes Benz E500 and a Toyota Hilux 2020, and a five-bedroom duplex situated at Ibrahim Eleto Street, Osopa London, Lekki, Lagos, four-bedroom semi-detached duplex situated at Ologol , Jakande, Lekki, Lagos and another four bedroom semi-detached duplex in Southern View Estate, Mayor Court, Chevron Alternative Road, Lekki, Lagos. The two vehicles are valued at N30million while the three duplexes are valued at N230million.
The EFCC said the fraudsters gave up the assets as they could not give satisfactory explanation of the funds and properties linked to them and also confessed to their involvement in cybercrime.
Bakare, 27, an indigene of Ijebu Ode, Ogun State claimed his forte is Business Email Compromise, and that he had hacked into different companies outside the shores of Nigeria.
The scammers had been successful in their ignoble trade, earning a cumulative sum of $1million USD from victims including three foreign airlines through Business Email Compromise fraud. They laundered the proceeds of crime in acquiring properties including real estate and luxury vehicles.
Life was good, but their comeuppance began in September 2020, when operatives of the commission, in the course of investigating a case of suspicious transactions and money laundering involving one Kehinde Adelakun, a convicted internet fraudster, stumbled on evidence linking Alvine International Resources Ventures, owned by the second defendant, Sikiru.
The transaction that set off the alarm bell was an inflow of N5million in two tranches from Alvine International Resources Voentures.
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