Two men, who specialised in defrauding unsuspecting members of the public of their hard-earned money in the guise of assisting them with converting dollars to naira have been arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Task Force.
The duo, identified as Abdullahi Mohammed and Victor Etuk, were arrested by officers of the task force in the Oshodi area of the state in the process of swindling an unsuspecting lady walking along that axis by asking for directions to a non-existent market and then later asking her for a place to change their supposed large sum of dollars.
She declined but they promised her an iPhone 11 Pro Max and N200,000 if she could take them to where they could change their dollars.
Her repeated appeal for them to leave her alone drew the attention of the officers, who swooped on them and arrested them.
One of the suspects, Victor Etuk, narrated that he had been in the practice for over three years and had been convicted for the same offense in 2020 and served seven months after being prosecuted.
“I was arrested during the pandemic by officers of Ago Police Station for defrauding a woman through this same means and my share of the loot was N12,000. I spent seven months behind bars but as soon as I got out of jail, I went back into the same practice.”
It was also learned that the second suspect, Abdullahi Mohammed, is an ex-convict, who spent six weeks in Badagry prison after being convicted for crimes.
Speaking on the arrest at the headquarters of the task force, its Chairman, Shola Jejeloye described the antics of the suspects as an old trick in the book, which has been on for a long time but unfortunately some individuals still fall for it.
“We have heard of this method of defrauding people popularly known as wash-wash and it is quite unfortunate that it is still being adopted up to this very day. The two are just part of a larger syndicate, who still engage in this practice and we will make sure that they are all fished out and brought to book.”
Jejeloye appealed to Lagosians to be vigilant, especially in crowded areas where people like this lurk and search for who to defraud.
He urged Lagosians to alert the Police or any security agency once anything suspicious occurs around them.
He promised to intensify efforts to ensure that miscreants and hoodlums were taken off the streets for the safety and serenity of all.
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