Operatives of the Uyo Zonal Directorate of the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC) have arrested one Imaobong Cyril Okpong, an alleged serial fraudster accused of involvement in a collection of scholarship and worldwide journey scams.
The suspect, who operated a faculty she allegedly used as a canopy to defraud unsuspecting victims, additionally engaged in visa fraud schemes and faux gives of international scholarships for non-existent research overseas, in accordance with the anti-graft company.
Disclosing this to journalists in Uyo on the weekend, the Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Ojewale, defined that Okpong was arrested following a petition by one Dr Blessing Nse Bassey, a clinician.
Dr Bassey alleged in her petition to the EFCC that the suspect defrauded her of the sum of N3,000,000 underneath the guise of securing a college admission for her and processing Canadian visas for her and her husband.
The petition said that the suspect contacted her sufferer someday in February 2024 with a supposed alternative to safe a scholarship and examine visa overseas.
The petitioner, the company added, didn’t make any cost till the suspect signed an indemnity settlement, which she notarised earlier than transferring the N3,000,000 electronically into the suspect’s First {Bank account}.
Nevertheless, after receiving the cost, Okpong allegedly grew to become unreachable and started rejecting calls on her cellular traces. She utterly didn’t ship on her guarantees and the phrases of the signed settlement.
The suspect, in accordance with the fee’s interrogation, had defrauded many victims, together with one in every of her buddies, who was made to journey to China however grew to become stranded.
“One in every of her victims obtained stranded in China. When she obtained there, she realised that there was no scholarship. A few of her victims travelled overseas with pretend paperwork that left lots of them stranded abroad, whereas others confronted deportation and big {financial} losses,” the company said.
