20th August, 2020
Operatives of the Port Harcourt zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC have arrested four students of the University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, for their alleged involvement in internet fraud.
The quartet, who allegedly defrauded 15 victims of $111,500 are: Prince Hyacinth; Rex Emadifie Oghene, Odili Ifeayi and Uduak Samuel Williams.
They were picked up on Thursday, August 20, 2020, from their hideout at Chibiak Avenue, Elenpranwo, Ada George, Port Harcourt.
Upon their arrest, the EFCC said the following items were recovered: one Tecno Spark 4 belonging to Prince Hyacinth; one Iphone 11 Pro Max, two Infinix Hot and one apple Laptop belonging to Odili Ifeayi; one Iphone 7 and two Iphone 11 belonging to Rex Emadifie Oghene and one iphone 8+, one Acer Laptop and one HP Laptop belonging Uduak Samuel Williams.
It said preliminary investigation established that the suspects were majorly involved in a romance scam and also act as pickers for organized ring of fraudsters.
The EFCC said while Prince Hyacinth paraded himself as a Spain-based marine engineer to bait his victims, Rex Emadifie Oghene posed as a rig engineer based in the United State.
The two other suspects, Odili Ifeayi and Uduak Samuel Williams presented themselves as rig/marine engineers to defraud their victims.
The EFCC said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.