Operatives of Imo State Police Command have arrested a 19-year-old secondary school leaver identified as Chigemezu Arikibe for allegedly using a fake social media accounts to swindle a Cambodian woman to the tune of $75,000 (N27m at N360 to 1$).
The suspect identified as Arikibe paraded himself on Facebook and Instagram as an American pilot working for a British airline to woo his victim identified simply as Sophanmia.
According to City Round, Arikibe offered to send her expensive gift items and $500,000, for investment in real estate business in Cambodia after establishing a relationship with the woman.
The suspect reportedly told Sophanmia that he would send the parcel to her through a courier in Indonesia and asked her to send $800 for the service.
He was said to have contacted his friend in Indonesia to act as a courier agent and collect the money from his victim.
Arikibe came up with excuses why the parcel could not be delivered after the money has been sent and persuaded the woman to send more money accumulating into $75,000.
It was learnt the woman alerted the Nigeria Embassy in Cambodia when she discovered that “the American pilot,” communicating with her was calling from Nigeria and not the United States.
The embassy was said to have alerted the Nigeria Police and operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team led by DCP Abba Kyari went after Arikibe.
According to a police source, the suspect was trailed to the Mbaitoli area of Imo State where he is based.
“The suspect was arrested with the SIM card and the phone he used in committing the crime and when we went through the phone, we saw chats between him and the woman.
“Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to everything and he also said there was a man in Indonesia who helped him pulled out the money from a USA bank account. He claimed to be an American and that was why he gave the woman an American bank account. The worst was that the woman went and borrowed the money from the bank,” the source stated.
