Ex-convict arrested trying to dupe police officer on Facebook

The police in Ogun State have arrested a 46-year old ex-convict, Surajudeen Balogun, for allegedly impersonating the state Director of Finance on Facebook.

Mr. Balogun was also accused of attempting to dupe a female police officer on the Facebook page

Police spokesperson in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on Sunday told REMIUM TIMES that the suspect, a fashion designer from ijebu Ode, posed on the social media platform as a staff of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation with the picture of the said finance director and had been defrauding unsuspecting members of the public.

He said Mr. Balogun was earlier convicted for duping a woman, Bimpe Akinmade, of N950, 000 having claimed to be an NNPC staff based in Port Harcourt. 

He said the suspect persuaded the woman to lend him the amount to secure the release of his brother being detained at the Ibara Prisons in Abeokuta, with the promise to return the money when he got back to Abeokuta.

Mr. Oyeyemi said the suspect  after collecting the money,  blocked the woman on his Facebook page, but  was later traced and arrested by the police, charged to court and sentenced to prison.

“As soon as he came out of prison, he started his nefarious activities again. Luck ran out on him when he was trying to defraud another woman on Facebook under the same guise, unknown to him that the woman is a police officer.”

The police spokesperson said the officer played along with him (suspect) until Saturday, February 17, when he was arrested while trying to collect money from the woman.

He said on interrogation, Mr. Balogun confessed to the crime and informed the police that he downloaded the picture of the finance Director for use as his Facebook profile in order to deceive his victims.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered that the case be investigated and charged to court as soon as possible, and also appealed to citizens to beware of fraudsters on social media.