Alleged N2.5M Fraud: Police Hunt For Stockbroker

Operatives at the Special Fraud Unit, Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, have launched a manhunt for a fake stock broker who allegedly duped a female client with fake statement of account.

In a petition to the to the commissioner of police, SFU, Lagos, a childhood friend of the victim, Miss Margaret Okpara, alleged that one Nwabuzo Chidi Eric, trading under the name and style of Intercontinental Securities approached her some time in 2006 to invest in stocks and that after consultations, the woman invested the sum of N2.5 million.

The suspect, according to the police, issued her an investor account package details to that effect. The copy of the Central Security Clearing System Ltd, CSCS, statement was also issued to the complainant to show the position of the stocks.

The petitioner further alleged that in 2008, she demanded to know the position of the stocks from the suspect and he told her that the last calculation was about N4.8 million.

The complainant, according to the police, authorised him to sell some of the stocks worth N3.5 million and the suspect agreed to bring the money in two weeks but instead of the money, the suspect issued two dud cheques of Guarantee Trust Bank and Intercontinental Bank both valued at N2.5 million but the two cheques were returned unpaid on presentation at the banks.

The petitioner sensed foul- play and reported the matter to the police and the suspect was arrested.

During interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime, admitting that he is a fake stock broker and that he is not an employee of intercontinental securities as he claimed to the victim and that it is his accomplice, Oregunwa Olalekan, that issued the Intercontinental Bank cheque that he gave to the victim.

The police now allege that the suspect who was later released on bail to his father, Martins Nwabuzo, has since jumped bail, and now at large and has closed down his office, Net-Stock Ltd located at Ikeja, Lagos.

The Commissioner of Police, SFU, Mr. Chinwuike Asadu, has, therefore, warned the public to be wary of the people they associate and do business with in order to avoid falling into the hands of fraudsters.

—Paul Iyoghojie