Justice Giwa Ogunbanjo of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to freeze the account of an alleged fraudster, Olarewaju Shamsudeen, who allegedly defrauded a U.S. citizen of 10,000 dollars.
Justice Ogunbanjo gave the EFCC 60 days within which to conclude its investigation and advised that the anti-graft agency should apply for an extension before the 60 days elapsed if need be.
Earlier, EFCC Counsel, Mr Sunday Robert, said that Shamsudeen successfully defrauded Ms Margaret Philips, a U.S. citizen after cajoling her into an online affair with him.
The prosecution said that Margaret reportedly stated that Shamsudeen presented himself to her as a Major in the U.S. Army and impersonated one Major Alex Hakeem.
He further said that after she sent 10,000 dollars to him, Shamsudeen, begged for more money, saying he had been deployed to Afghanistan for a refresher course and needed more money.
“She sent the money but the money came with an alarm by the bank which detected that it may be a scam.
“That prevented his account from being credited as the money bounced back to her account so he had no access to the money.
“ Because he could not have access to the money, he called her by phone call and she heard his Nigerian accent.
“Before the call, all forms of communication between them had been through the social media.
“ when she realized he was a Nigerian who had been acting as Major Alex Hakeem, she stopped giving him money and that when was she sent a complaint to the commission,” he said.
The Prosecution said that the EFCC used the phone number the victim forwarded to the agency, to trace Shamsudeen’s BVN and realised he was truly a Nigerian.
“His bank account also showed inflow of foreign monies in which the commission is suspecting them to be gotten by ill motives,” he said.
The EFCC further said that the suspect was arrested but was granted administrative bail after presenting a surety who met all the bail conditions and was an elderly person.
He however said that after the bail was granted, Shamsudeen jumped bail and was presently at large.
The Prosecution said that the EFCC had mounted surveillance in search of the suspect and had kept the surety in custody and was ready to charge him before a court.
Robert said that before the court were exhibits of communication and receipt of payment made to the suspect’s account,alleged ID card of the said suspect,a snapshot of the suspect’s picture and record of account of the suspect.