An American citizen, Vonapolouis Moss, has shared with the Kwara State Police Command how she was deceived into traveling to Nigeria by Joshua Awoyele, a 23-year-old suspect known for internet fraud, commonly referred to as a “yahoo boy”.

Moss, who lives at 2962 W 64th Court, Merrillville, Indiana 46410, USA, said she was brought to Nigeria on January 9, 2023 by the alleged fraudster. She said she met him on TikTok, a social media platform, where he posed as an American named Howard Adams and claimed to be working in Nigeria.

According to the police, Joshua Awoleye, a Higher National Diploma student at Kwara State Polytechnic in Ilorin, allegedly swindled Moss of $1000 after luring her to Nigeria and lodging her in a hotel. The Commissioner of Police, Paul Odama, announced the arrest of Awoleye on Friday and said that he was an internet fraudster known as a “yahoo boy” who had presented himself to Moss on TikTok as an American named Howard Adams.

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The police commissioner added that the suspect had taken an unspecified amount of money from the victim before she was rescued by police operatives. Vonapoloius stated in an interview that she arrived in Nigeria on Monday night and traveled to Ilorin on Tuesday morning.

She said that Joshua had taken her to a Bureau de Change to change her money to Nigerian currency and also to Shoprite. When her money ran out, he asked her to ask her people to send more. The foreign national said she likes Nigeria but would like to return to the US.

The Police Commissioner said that Joshua confessed to his crime but would not be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Instead, he would be investigated by the police and charged in court after a thorough investigation of his alleged crime.