EFCC-ICPC Impersonators Nabbed in Akwa Ibom
The Uyo Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested three men in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital for impersonating the staff of the Commission and that of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC. The suspects are: Norbert Rampa, (51); Patrick Essien, (50) and Gabriel Daniel,( 32).
The trio along with other members of their team had on September 19, 2018, paid a courtesy visit to the Commission’s Uyo office, under the auspicies of Grassroots Development Advocacy Initiative (GDAI) which they claim was a registered organisation with the National Anti-corruption Coalition (NACC).
During the visit, its national director, Essien spoke extensively on the several trainings that the members had gone through to ensure grassroots engagements in budget processes, aimed at sustaining the fight against corruption, while Rampa who introduced himself as the director of programmes of the group spoke on their robust collaboration with the ICPC.
They, however, requested that they be granted operational powers, to which the Zonal Head, Mr. Garba Dugum refused and advised them to rather report all perceived corrupt practices to the Commission.
The team obviously paid no heed to Dugum’s advice as Rampa, Essien and Daniel, who are the leaders, were discovered to have embarked on various levels of forgery and impersonation in a criminal act of extortion from unsuspecting members of the public, whom they deceive and intimidate with the claim that they are in a joint operational task force with both the EFCC and the ICPC.
Trouble, however, started for them when they tested their luck on Mr. Aloysius Udobong, an elderly retiree for intimidation and extortion. Their move on Udobong failed, forcing them to send a baseless petition against him to the EFCC, concocting allegation of being a corrupt retired public servant against him.
When Udobong was invited for questioning, he made allegations of forgeries and impersonation against the trio, buttressing them with documented evidences.
According to Udobong, sometime in 2018, the syndicate issued a letter of investigation to him, purportedly emanating from the EFCC and attempted to extort money from him, but when they discovered that he wasn’t willing to comply with their financial demands, they left, but returned to him in 2019 with more letters, this time, listing his assets and properties and threatening to prosecute him if he refused to dole out money to them.
Udobong tendered some of the letters of invitation for investigation which he claimed were all personally delivered to him by Rampa. This instantly turned the table against them and they became suspects.
The forged letters furthermore, pushed EFCC operatives to carry out a search on the apartments of the trio. The outcome of that search strongly established that Essien, Rampa and Daniel had been impersonating the EFCC and ICPC in the state and beyond.
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Forged documents recovered from their apartments include: Fake EFCC letterhead papers, ICPC operational jackets, forged identity cards of National Anti-corruption Coalition of ICPC/EFCC Partnership, various forged letters to individuals and organisations purportedly coming from EFCC and ICPC. Others are: Forged investigation letters to First Bank of Nigeria, handwritten drafts of fake petitions against individuals, forged investigation letters from the suspects to their accuser, Mr. Udobong and a desktop computer.
Also included are a fake “National Anti-Corruption Coalition (NACC) of ICPC/EFCC Partnership,” letterhead paper that captured Norbert Rampa as “Head, Intelligence Investigator/Operations,” a forged EFCC letterhead paper with the Commission’s logo on the left hand side and the coat of arms on the right hand side and forged identity cards.
The suspects are currently providing useful information to the Commission and will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head , Media and Publicity
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EFCC Arrests Suspected Yahoo Boys
In continuation of its war against internet fraud, officers of the Cyber Crime Section at the Abuja Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Monday September 9, 2019 raided the residences of suspected yahoo-yahoo fraudsters at House 16, Yashin Dogara News Engineering, Dawaki, Abuja.
In the same vein, arrests were carried out on September 13, at Nepa Road, Phase 4 Kubwa and at No 18, Samuel Crescent, Dantata Estate Kubwa, Abuja.
The operations followed covert intelligence gathering and leads from already arrested suspects.
The suspects arrested are Iloh Joseph and Emeka Jonathan.
In the course of the operation, mobile phones, laptop computers, and a Toyota Corolla car were recovered. The suspects will be charged to court as soon as investigations are completed.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media and Publicity
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Sapele Youths Denounce Cybercrime, Pledges Supports For EFCC
Youths in Sapele and its environs on Tuesday September 17, 2019 staged a peaceful rally in support of the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to rid Delta State and the entire country of cybercrimes and other forms of economic and financial crimes.
The youths under the aegis of Save Sapele Group, carried banners and placards bearing various messages such as “Sapele Say No to Crime, Yahoo Yahoo, Kidnapping and Internet Fraud”, “Say No to Corruption”, “Protect our Youths, Daughters and Sisters – Say No to Yahoo Yahoo” and ” Say No to 419″, as they marched through the streets of Sapele. They also wore T-shirts with inscriptions condemning internet fraud popularly known as yahoo yahoo.
The youths said the rally which is coming on the heels of several arrests of cybercrime suspects in the city, was to demonstrate their disapproval of the activities of elements that engage in activities such as internet fraud, cybercrimes and kidnapping in Sapele. “We don’t want yahoo yahoo. We don’t want internet fraud, We say no to 419 and ritual killing”, they declared.
Today’s rally in support of the Commission is coming few days after some youths in the area staged a protest against a sister agency, claiming that officers of the agency were instigating the frequent EFCC raid of Internet fraudsters in the city.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media and Publicity
17 September, 2019
