Thousands of Nigerians are suspected to have been swindled in a new Ponzi scheme, ‘D9 Club, which has recently infiltrated Nigeria. Presently, the police said that at least 200 victims are known and have come forward to make complaints.
Meanwhile, the man at the centre of the scheme, one Kayode Samuel, has been arrested along with one of his workers, identified as Kola Banji. Trouble for Samuel started after one of the clients he referred to the scheme, Mrs. Zainab Jimoh, failed to realize an interest yield of N3 million, after investing N1 million.
According to the woman: “I invested N1 million after I heard him speaking on radio, talking about the scheme. I paid the money into Samuel’s Access Bank account as I was directed. After one year, I didn’t receive any money, when I asked him to refund my money, he said the scheme had shut down because the person that started it had been murdered. I have over 200 names of people that I know he had defrauded so far. There are still others.”
Samuel was further alleged to have absconded from his Ojodu Berger office after allegedly defrauded Zainab and relocated to Ibadan, Oyo State.
The suspect was tracked to Ibadan and arrested by detectives attached to Special Enquiry Bureau (SEB) of Force Criminal Investigations Department, Alagbon, Obalende, Lagos State.
The police explained that sometimes in August, 2017, Samuel, the Chief Executive Officer of ‘Sack Your Boss, Be Your Boss,’ scheme allegedly conspired with Kola Banji and others still at large to defraud Jimoh of N1 million under the pretence that the money would yield an interest of N3 million at the end of one year duration.
Jimoh further alleged that she had to travel seven times to Ibadan all in attempts to get her money from Samuel, but all efforts proved abortive. She further claimed that Samuel later started threatening her life.
According to the police, when the Inspector-General of Police and Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), FCID received the petition, instruction was issued to SEB detectives to fish out the suspects behind the alleged scam.
On November 6, 2018, detectives attached to SEB got a tip-off that Samuel and his cohorts were strategizing in another area in Ibadan, with intent to defraud innocent citizens of their hard earned money. The detectives embarked on investigation activities to Oyo State and the duo was arrested.
An HP laptop and one Passat Volkswagen vehicle with registration No KRD953FJ were recovered from Samuel. Confessional statements were obtained from Samuel and Banji as at the time of this report where they promised to refund the money to Jimoh. Samuel, however, insisted that he didn’t defraud Jimoh or other Nigerians involved in the scheme.
He added: “In fact, I was also scammed. I invested almost N3 million. I have collected only once before the scheme suddenly shut down. But everyone that ventured into the scheme knew the risk they were taking. We told them about the risk. We warned them about the risk before they invested their money. They all signed to that effect. The scheme shut down after the person that started it was murdered. I am not a fraudster!” The police urged Nigerians to be alert and ensure they don’t fall victims in the hands of fraudsters.
(The Guardian)
