Olufemi Olaniyi
11 May 2021
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The Oyo State Police Command has arrested a man, Olumide Olajide, for allegedly defrauding traders in Ibadan with fake bank alerts.
Olajide, who claims to be a Yoruba film actor, was among those paraded at the state police command headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, on Monday.
The actor, who was paraded alongside his partner, Wemimo Adeyanju, a Higher National Diploma student of Purchasing and Supply at a polytechnic in the South-West, told our correspondent in an interview that he was arrested in the Apete area of Ibadan.
Asked to explain how he used to generate the fake bank alerts, Olajide said he would ask for the account numbers and names of the sellers after buying goods from them.
After this, he would use the information to generate their details by dialling the USSD code of his bank.
After generating the recipient’s name, he said he would alter the old bank alert sent to him by his bank and change the date and the amount, and resend same to the recipient.
According to him, the fake alert sent will show on the recipient’s phone as a genuine alert from his bank.
He said, “I did it just three times before I was arrested. After seeing the alert, they would allow me to go away with the goods paid for with the fake bank alert.
“I went to another shop and a woman recognised me through the display photograph on my WhatsApp and raised the alarm.”
The undergraduate also told our correspondent that he went out with the prime suspect.
He admitted that Olajide used the fake bank alert to purchase some items on an occasion that he accompanied him.
“He did it once. He was the one who did it, but I followed him that day,” Adeyanju stated.
Police sources said Olajide had an app on his phone through which he was generating fake bank alerts to defraud traders.
