The Lagos State Police Command has made a significant discovery involving a criminal syndicate specializing in defrauding filling stations of substantial sums of money using counterfeit electronic payment alerts.

According to Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), one of the suspects was apprehended by operatives from the Isheri Police Division.

The police received a complaint on May 17, 2023, at around 2:30 pm, from the manager of Enyo Filling Station located along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The complaint alleged that a man identified as Anthony Ofikwu, along with other unidentified individuals, had been repeatedly purchasing fuel at the filling station using fraudulent bank alerts.

Hundeyin stated, “Whenever the syndicate visited, their members would present fake bank alerts and also request cash transfers.

However, all the transactions would later be reversed within minutes, enabling them to deceive the filling stations.”

Detectives were immediately dispatched to the scene, intercepting and taking the suspect into custody at the police station.

During questioning, the suspect, Anthony Ofikwu, purportedly confessed to being a member of the fraud syndicate that targeted filling stations.

Law enforcement officials discovered a total of 13 different bank ATM debit cards bearing various names in his possession.

Ofikwu also admitted to defrauding Enyo Filling Station of approximately N5.1 million since the commencement of their operations.

Currently, the suspect is detained at the Isheri Police Station, while efforts are underway to apprehend the other members of the syndicate who remain at large.