Law enforcement breaks up international scam ring, apprehends impostor posing as high-ranking World Bank representative

The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre has successfully taken down a cross-border fraud syndicate and apprehended an individual posing as a World Bank official, according to the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Anthony Placid, in a statement released on Wednesday in Abuja.

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DCP Placid attributed the dismantling of the syndicate and the arrest of the fake World Bank official to actionable intelligence provided by the East Africa Sub-Sahara Africa Safe Promotion Foundation, a registered NGO based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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The intelligence revealed that the foundation had introduced the suspect to Mr Julius Kithome and Ms Cynthia Kithome through Rev. Edy Ndeto in Nairobi, and that the suspect had falsely represented himself as an official of the World Bank and other US-based donor partners.

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Preliminary investigations uncovered that the complainants had transferred a total of $250,000 over three years for purported registration and administrative fees, with the promise of unlocking donor funding, but no funding was ever secured.

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Instead, the suspect organized sham symposiums in Nigeria and South Africa, and in 2024, he induced the victims to secure a bank loan against their family property to access a non-existent $850,000 empowerment fund in Ghana.

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Investigation and financial analysis confirmed substantial inflows from the Kenyan victims, including $57,975 between February and July 2023, and the suspect was arrested on March 31.

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The suspect's entity, Black Diamond African Beauty Restoration Foundation, was found to be unregistered in Nigeria, but he had promptly registered United African Continent Limited in November 2024 to legitimize his illicit activities.

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Further findings indicated that the suspect had extended his fraudulent scheme to local farmers in Kuje Area Council, collecting N50,000 each under the guise of empowerment and capacity building.

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In a related development, operatives of the NPF-NCCC arrested a suspect on April 3, following a complaint by Lex Excellentia on behalf of Mr Emmanuel Enwelu of NewLife Ventures Makurdi, accusing the suspect of unauthorized modification of computer systems, cybersquatting, and diversion of funds.

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The suspect, a former employee of the organisation, had confessed to using his personal bank accounts to receive customer payments intended for the company, and one Samsung A6 Plus Mobile Phone, NIN Paper Slip, and NIN Digital Slip were recovered from him.