The Oyo state police command has arrested a man claiming to be a Yoruba film actor for duping traders with fake bank alerts.
The actor named Olumide Olajide and another victim, Wemimo Adeyanju, an HND student of Purchasing and Supply at a polytechnic in the South-West were involved in the defrauding act and captured at different locations.
In an interview with the duo, they disclosed how they managed to play the con game.
Olajide said he would ask for the account numbers and names of the sellers after buying goods from them.
He would then use the information to generate their details by dialling the USSD code of his bank.
He would modify the old bank alert sent to him by his bank, change the date and amount, and resend the same to the recipient after generating their details.
The fake alert sent will show on the recipient’s phone as a real alert from his bank.
According to Punch, the fraudster said:
“I did it just three times before I was arrested. After seeing the alert, they would allow me to go away with the goods paid for with the fake bank alert. I went to another shop, and a woman recognized me through the display photograph on my WhatsApp and raised the alarm.”