MEET FRANK OSHANUGOR
By Frank Oshanugor
The Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force has arrested a serial fraudster, Hamza Abdullahi Gambo, an indigene of Karofim-Madaki of Bauchi Local Government Area of Bauchi State for issuing fake employment letters in the name of Nigeria Meterological Agency (NIMET) after collecting over #5, 000 000(five million naira) from them.
The IRT team allegedly apprehended the suspect in the Bauchi metropolis after one Beatrice Itodo reported that the suspect swindled her a total of two million, three hundred and sixty six thousand naira (N2,366,000) through fake employment letters issued to many of her relatives. The letters were purported to have been issued by the Agency.
The suspect, who was a former employee of NIMET confessed to have issued the fake employment letters adding that he was paid for doing so through his Guaranty Trust Bank Account number 0018546542.
According to AtlanticNewsonline findings from IRT sources, the suspect; a senior school certificate holder was employed by the NIMET in 2003 and later dismissed but reinstated under a questionable circumstance that once again resulted to final dismissal.
Gambo also reportedly confessed to IRT detectives that he issued fake employment letters to a total of one hundred and tewnty one (121) job seekers. The appointment letters were typed on NIMET letter heads with logo bearing a staff signature before his arrest.
He also admitted through a confessional statement to the police to have collected a total of five million, one hundred and seventy three thousand naira (N5,173,000.00) from the job seekers through his bank account.
He also revealed that Itodo had paid two million, three hundred and sixty six naira (N2,366,000.00) to him through his GTB account number for fifteen job seekers initially and the fake employment letters with NIMET letterhead were issued to them through electronic mail addresses.
He confessed that “I cannot remeber how much I collected based on individuals but the total amount I got from Itodo is two million, three hundred and sixty six thousand naira.”
“I received the money via my account number as stated earlier.” the suspect stated .
Why being interrogated by police detectives on what the proceeds of the crime were used for, the suspect said that he used it to build a house in Kandahar, Bauchi State with the intention of selling it off to pay his victims at the end of the day.
A scrutiny by AtlanticNewsonline of one of the employment letters showed that it was dated 1st March 2021 and was signed by Rabi Mohammed, Director of Admin and Supply for the Managing Director of NIMET.
As at the time of filing this report on Sunday, it was gathered that police detectives were still conducting discreet investigations into the criminal activities of the suspect to apprehend those behind the design and printing of the fake employement letters.
In the light of this criminal act, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has warned unemployed Nigerians desperately seeking for
employment to ensure they conduct necessary checks before engaging in such ventures with private citizens for security reasons.
What a sad experience,l hope the victims will learn from the experience and try not to be swindled again.l also hope the perpetrator will try to refund.
“You will never know if you don’t try”