By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that a 23-year-old businesswoman, Victoria Damilola Akinnowonu is currently in police custody for allegedly swindling customers of over N150 million in Niger State.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Wasiu Abiodun confirmed Damilola’s arrest in a statement issued on Friday in Minna.
According to Abiodun, the suspect was taken into custody after a case of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and internet-related offenses was referred to the Command from Magistrate Court Minna.
The statement said “The suspect was arrested with the help of the family and during interrogation, she claimed to have been operating an online business for about a year ago, via a link she discovered on Facebook, by showcasing items such as female clothes, bags, shoes, phones, laptops and other electronic gadgets.
“She said that through this act, she was able to gather many customers online who usually place orders for such items. She asserted further that due to her customers’ complaints about price, she took some orders at a low rate and sometimes used the proceed to supply other customers.
“Consequently, piling up orders she could not meet up for other transactions. Preliminary investigation revealed that she deceived her victims that her goods were seized by the Customs. She also rented two warehouses located in the Tunga/Kpakungu areas of Minna with over two million nairas, which she used to deepen her fraud escapades.
“She confessed that by her rough estimates, she is owing over one hundred customers to the tune of about one hundred and fifty million naira. Presently about 72 victims have so far surfaced at SCID Minna giving the Police, the statements of their ordeal with the suspect,”
Abiodun added that the suspect who is undergoing interrogation at SCID Minna, will be arraigned before the court for prosecution as soon as the investigation is concluded.
