Lagos Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested eight internet fraudsters, one of whom allegedly tried to buy a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) worth N44million with Bitcoin.
Tobiloba Aramide Ogundiyan who was accused by EFCC’s Advance Fee Fraud Section of committing online fraud and converting his loot to the cryptocurrency.
An EFCC source said Ogundiyan “acquired his ill-gotten wealth from internet fraud, layered it into a Bitcoin account and finally integrated it by approaching a car shop owner in Lekki to purchase a Range Rover Vela P380 2018 model worth N44,000,000 ($97,626 USD in Bitcoin) sometime in March 2021”.
Ogundiyan and seven others were arrested by the commission’s Lagos operatives on May 18, 2021 at River View Estate, Lekki, Lagos for alleged computer-related fraud.
The other suspects are Samson Alabi Afolabi; Adebayo Dolapo Olumide; Daniel Boluwatife Akinwunmi; Moses Segun; Kelechi Thankgod Felix; Adeleke Godwin Tofunmi and Adewale Dapo Victor.
The suspects were said to have been found with exhibits including electronic gadgets (handsets, laptops), exotic cars, expensive jewellery, antiques, and so on.
The EFCC said in the course of its investigation, it found that apart from computer-related fraud, some of the suspects had completed the three stages of money laundering i.e. placement, layering and integration.
