‘Yahoo Boys’ Kidnap Colleague for Taking Lion Share of Fraud Proceeds

Men of the Ogun State Police Command have rescued a suspected Internet fraudster, Haruna Usman, abducted by his colleagues for withholding proceeds of their crime.

The kidnapped fraudster reportedly released N2,200,000 to other members of his syndicate out of the N26,437,950 allegedly obtained from a victim in the state.

The sum taken by the suspect represents 91.7 per cent of the total sum.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Thursday, said the four suspected Internet fraudsters, also known as Yahoo Boys, were arrested on Monday.

He said the suspects; Agbe Simeon, Messiah Nicky, Oladapo Dolapo and Yetunde Shonola, were arrested at Orile Imo village, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state.

The PPRO said their arrest followed a tip-off received by the Police at the Owode Egba divisional headquarters that Usman was abducted last Thursday.

Oyeyemi said, “Upon the information, the DPO, Owode-Egba division, CSP Popoola Olasunkanmi, quickly mobilised his men and stormed the area, where four of the abductors were apprehended while two others escaped.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the victim and the suspects belong to an Internet fraud syndicate, and they recently swindled somebody whose identity is not yet known out of the sum of N26,437,950, but the victim only gave the sum of N2,200,000 to his colleagues, claiming that the money had not been paid completely by their client.

“This infuriated his colleagues, who then lured him to an herbalist home at Orile-Imo and held him hostage there since Thursday, December 22, 2022, with the threat to kill him if he refused to give them their complete share.

“But while they were there, information got to the police, who moved in, rescued the victim and apprehended four of the abductors, while others escaped.”

Oyeyemi said the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had directed that the suspects be transferred to the anti-kidnapping unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible prosecution.