Dailytrust is repporting that there is a new set of ‘fake pastors’ in town.
These fake Pastors are often seen hanging around commercial banks in corporate
attires. Their dressing is not in any way suspicious as it makes them
look like pastors or even the bankers.
Their prime targets are mostly
impressionable teenagers who visit the banks either to pay in or
withdraw money.
Silver James is a member of this gang of criminals
who specialises in swindling residents of Kubwa, one of the fast-growing
satellite towns in the FCT, using spiritual means. He said he was
introduced to the business by one of his friends who claimed to be a
paint dealer in Abuja.
James, a 39-year-old painter in the eastern
part of the country, said he was deceived into joining the gang after
giving his friend the sum of N50,000 to help him procure a pickup van
for his work which he waited for three months without delivery.
“One
day, I called him to return my money since the goods were no longer
available, but he promised to introduce me to another business which
would pay better than the painting work I was doing. That was how I
found myself in Abuja two weeks later,” he said.
According to James, it took him few weeks to learn the tricks of the fraud before he finally joined the syndicate.
“We
always stand by the gate of banks to lay ambush on our victims. As soon
as we sight a customer, most of whom are teenagers, going towards the
ATM point to withdraw money, one of us would approach him and start
prophesying to him that he has a bright future but that the devil wants
to truncate it,” he said.
The suspect said they would promise the
victims to take them to a certain place where prayers would be conducted
on him for his cleansing, but only on the condition that he/she would
be ready to offer some amount of money, and his phones collected from
him.
“Once the boy withdraws money from the machine and hands it over
to any of us, we carry him in our car which is already waiting within
the bank premises to a lonely place where we drop him and disappear,” he
narrated.
The suspect, who confessed that it was only the sixth time
he had committed the fraud, said he was caught in the act on the day he
was arrested.
“I was still talking with the boy when my colleague
sighted the police officer and he left me and drove off with the car.
That was how I got caught,” he decried.
He further confessed that they do not use any charm to operate, describing their tricks as mere psychology.
“Since
I joined them, I have not seen them making any incantation before
embarking on any operation. Besides, it is not every person we approach
that succumbs to our tricks. Some would say they are not interested, and
we don’t force them,” he added.
One of the victims who simply
identified himself as Tochy, while narrating his ordeal, said he lost
the sum of N25,000 to the swindlers.
“It was like a film. Their
appearance was so deceptive that before they even opened their mouth to
start talking to you, you are already attracted to their discussion,” he
lamented.
Reacting, the Kubwa Divisional Police Officer, Chief
Superintendent Nurrudeen Sabo confirmed the arrest of the fraudster,
saying that 10 mobile phones and a fake camouflage cap belonging to the
Immigration Service were recovered from him.
He advised residents to be wary of the presence of these fraudsters within bank premises so as not to fall for their gimmicks.
Sabo
also urged parents and guardians to avoid sending their vulnerable
under-aged wards, who the criminals always take advantage of to the
banks, especially to lodge in or withdraw money.