Police arrest 2 suspects over fake bank alert

The Police Command in Akwa Ibom says it has two suspected fraudsters who allegedly swindled their victims of various sums in the state.

The command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Odiko MacDon, disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen in Uyo on Wednesday.

MacDon said that the suspects allegedly swindled their victims with fake bank credit alerts.

He said the Police arrested one of the suspects, a Point of Sale (POS) operator, after he used fake alert to defraud two of his customers, Markson Mark Wisdom and Edidiong Samuel Robert of N200,000.00 at his POS stand, situated at Udo Udoma Avenue, Uyo.

The PPRO said that operatives of the command also arrested another suspect who bought a Lexus 330 salon car in Lagos using fake bank alert.

He said based on intelligence the police trailed the car to Uyo through Abia and arrested the suspect along IBB Way in Uyo.

“The Akwa Ibom State Police Command, on Jan. 18, 2021, relying on credible information, that a Lexus 330 salon car was bought with fake bank alert at Festac Town, Lagos State trailed the said car to Uyo via Abia State and in a coordinated operation.

“Utilizing the instruments of intelligence-driven policing by the Anti- Cultism Unit of the command, arrested one male suspect, along IBB Road by Ibom Hall, driving the car with a fake number plate; Lagos AKD 230 GQ and recovered the said vehicle.

“In another development, on Jan. 17, 2021, Operatives of the same Unit apprehended a POS Operator, male, aged 26, for fraudulently using fake alert to defraud customers,” MacDon said.

The PPRO said that the Commissioner of Police, Mr Andrew Amiengheme, had appealed to members of the public to be vigilant to the prevalence of these crimes.

He further urged members of the public to take additional steps in securing their cars by inserting security devices and be more vigilant after parking their cars.

MacDon, however, promised that the police would deal decisively with perpetrators of such heinous crimes in the state.