Unemployed man nabbed after ‘buying’ N2m car with fake bank alert

The Niger State Police Command has arrested an unemployed man, Luba Udoka Jonah, who allegedly specializes in defrauding people by sending them fake bank transaction alerts.


Jonah was arrested after trying to defraud a car dealer in Minna.


The car Dealer, Abubakar Yahaya of TK Motors reported Jonah to the Police after the suspect sent him a bank alert which did not reflect in his bank account.


According to Yahaya, the suspect came to car stand to buy a Mercedes Benz C240 model which they agreed at the rate of N2 million. He deposited N50, 000 before taking the car for test running.


However, after two days, the seller retrieved the car from the suspect following his refusal to pay the balance even though the suspect took his account details to pay the balance of N1.950 million.


Upon receiving the alert from the suspect, Yahaya went to the bank only to be told that no money had entered into his account.


This made Yahaya to report the suspect to the Police, which led to his arrest.


The suspect confirmed that he sends fake alert to his unsuspecting victims upon transacting business with them adding that this was made possible with an application which he uses to manipulate bank accounts.


He said he uses the fake bank alert to buy expensive things and leave the area immediately before the person can discover that he or she has been duped.


“There is one application I downloaded which I use to manipulate any bank account number that comes my way. I have been defrauding innocent people of their money without them knowing about it.


“I can buy goods worth millions of naira in somebody’s shop, once I complete the fake transfer, the person will get alert on the spot and I leave the area immediately.”


The command’s Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Abubakar urged the public to be discreet with their banking transactions in order to avoid falling prey to fraudsters.


He said that the case would be charged to court soon.