By Henry Oduah
Reporter
Police are in the hunt for SylvesterMadu, or the man impersonating him, for allegedly defrauding EberechukwuEziukwu, an employee of Reflux Consult, of N450,000 and attempting to swindle her of another N900,000.
The scam allegedly involved Madu, his daughter, and mother.
Eziukwutold TheNiche that Madu’s wife was her friend until she died six years ago.
She recounted thatshe had barely re-established communication with him on Facebook for three months before the scam occurred.
“His wife used to be my friend but died about six years ago during childbirth, leaving behind a two-year-old daughter who is eight years old now,” Eziukwu explained.
The alleged plot to defraud her started on Monday, March 13 when Madu, who lives in the United States, sent her what he said was the telephone number of his mother who lives in Jos, Plateau State.
However, with hindsight, Eziukwu nowsuspects thatthe real Madu was impersonated by someone who knows her closeness with his family.
The man in the U.S. asked her to encourage the old woman in Jos for taking good care of his daughter.
“But I did not make that call till the next day, being Tuesday, around 6pm,” Eziukwu recounted.
“The [old] woman was so happy that I called and even the little girl, too. So from that day they were calling me every day and I called them too to know how they were doing.”
Eziukwumissed calls from the old woman while having her bath on March 16 at 6.45am. She called back only to hear the little girl in tears.
The child told her that her grandmother had slipped and hit her head on the bathtub. When Eziukwu requested to speak with any older person around, the child got the security man on the phone.
She said after guiding the security man and a taxi driver through taking the woman to the hospital, “I was worried about the little girl because I wasn’t comfortable with only her in the midst of men.
“So I called one of my classmates that lives there in Jos with her family to go and take her to her house.
“But the problem was getting the address of the hospital where they were because there was so much confusion.”
The doctor said the old woman had sustained a serious head injury and that she had kidney stones coupled with high blood pressure, and needed to be flown to an affiliate hospital in Ghana where she would be properly attended to.
Eziukwu told the man in the U.S. after several attempted phone calls what the doctor said and the cost of the operation, which was N450,000.
“I quickly called her son and told him about the doctor’s request but he said that as at the time (7am) we were talking it was still midnight over there in the states, so he could not send down money because he does not do online transfer.
“He said very early in the morning he would go and transfer the money to me as soon as day breaks but that I should help out with the money.”
Eziukwu got her neighbour to loan her N450,000 which she transferred to the doctor’s bank account – Eze Collins Jonathan, Access Bank, account number 0725101622.
After the transfer, the man in the U.S.stopped answering her calls and responding to her text messages.
“That was when it dawned on me that it was a scam.”
She hurried to the bank where she learnt that withdrawals had already been made from Enugu via ATM. Bank officials told her to file a police report while they halted further withdrawal.
The doctor called again at 2pm that same day and requested an additional N900,000 as deposit for surgery.
Then the man in the U.S. opened communication with her again. He gave excuses for not sending any money from the U.S. since he was informed of his mother’s condition.
Eziukwu said the doctor told her not to pay the money into the previous account and sent another account detail – Ajali John Emeka, Access Bank, account number 0690211207.
When TheNiche asked if it was the husband of her latehusband committing the fraud or somebody impersonating him, she responded: “No he is not the one. The fraudsters impersonated him.
“I suspect it’s someone that knew my closeness to the family that did that. My friend’s husband cannot do that. I don’t think he is the one.”
Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Olarinde Cole, confirmed the case is being investigated.
“We have just secured a banker’s order to aid in tracking down the fraudster(s)”, he told TheNiche.
