The Oyo State Police Command has arrested one Olumide Olajide, who claims to be an actor, for allegedly defrauding traders in Ibadan with fake bank alerts.
Olajide 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, while speaking with reporters, said he was arrested in the Apete area of Ibadan, adding that he usually ask for the account numbers and names of the sellers after buying goods from them.
After this, Olajide said he would use the information to generate their details by dialling the USSD code of his bank. He further disclosed that 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.”
Also, the undergraduate also told journalists that he went out with the prime suspect, admitting 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.
According to the Police, Olajide had an app on his phone through which he was generating fake bank alerts to defraud traders.