A suspected notorious advance fee fraudster, named Wisdom Mmaduka of Onicha in Ezinihitte Mbaise local government area of Imo State, has been arrested for defrauding women with fake marriages.
The suspect is the leader of a syndicate which include fake parents and in-laws, who usually accompanied him to the fake marriage ceremony.
Mmaduka, 30, was paraded among 19 suspected criminals, by the Imo State Police command on Friday.
According to the spokesman of the state police command, Henry Okoye, Mmaduka was arrested after he fraudulently obtained the sum of N1.4m via ATM transfer from one Miss Judith in the guise of marrying her.
He said that intelligence-led investigation and data tracking analysis by detectives of Owerri Area Command led to the arrest of notorious advance fee fraudster.
Mmaduka, who confessed to the crime, revealed that his modus operandi was to go after wealthy unmarried ladies, especially those from Anambra State, promising them marriage and in the process defraud them of their hard-earned money.
He said: “I discovered that many rich or comfortable ladies, particularly those from Anambra, have problems with getting married and that they could do anything to get married to a handsome young man. So, that was how I started using marriage to get money from them. I only do fairly substantial part of the marriage rites before leaving”.
He disclosed that he has a syndicate he uses as parents and in-laws that he takes these unsuspecting young ladies to in his village in Mbaise for confirmation of his intention.
“On seeing these, the innocent lady will believe I have good intentions. So, in the process, I will steal their ATM card, withdraw all the money in their account, and fade into thin air”, Mmaduka confessed.
Interestingly, according to the police, on his arrest six ladies he has defrauded surfaced at the station confirming being defrauded by the same suspect of huge sums of money with the same marriage arrangements.
“But luck ran against him this time and he was arrested.
“More so, he has a duplex he allegedly built at Naze with the money he got from his fraud dealings.
“He has been arraigned in the Federal High Court, Owerri, and remanded in police custody”, Okoye said..
