The Niger State Police Command has paraded before newsmen a 28-year-old woman for allegedly defrauding over 50 unsuspecting job seekers out of over N10 million.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, the suspect, Patience Adamu, who was arrested alongside her husband and three other suspects, amassed over N10 million from the National Examination Council (NECO) job scam.
Abiodun disclosed that the suspects collected N500,000 each from some of the unsuspecting victims for a job replacement offer at the National Examination Council (NECO) Headquarters.
Patience, who confessed to the crime, noted that she planned to refund money to her victims as her intention was to raise money for business purposes.
“On 20/05/2022 at about 1230hrs, based on a tip off that suspected syndicate of job scammer(s) were sighted at a hotel in Minna, documenting some applicants for placement into the National Examination Council (NECO) Headquarters Minna.
“On the receipt of this information, Police operatives attached to Intelligence Unit of the Command swung into action and arrested the following suspects: Patience Adamu,28yrs ‘f’ of Talba Estate Kpakungu, Minna, Mathew Samson aged 48yrs ‘m’ of same address, Godwin Mathew aged 35yrs ‘m’ of Kaduna State, Emmanuel David aged 35yrs ‘m’ of Kaduna State and Peter Samuel aged 29 yrs ‘m’ of Kaduna State
“During interrogation, Patience confessed that she had contacted about ten unsuspecting members of the public since the year 2020 till date for a job replacement offer at NECO with a payment of #500,000 each. She confessed further that each of the victims made half payment and to pay the balance after issuing them with appointment letter
“However, she claimed to have arranged a fake documentation for the victims as one of them was pressurizing for the next stage of the job placement, while she invited three persons from Kaduna State in conspiracy with her husband, Mathew Samson to carry out the fake documentation.
“She said her intention was to raise money for business purpose and to refund the victims afterwards and that she has no employment offer at NECO or anywhere.
“In the course of investigation, over 50 victims have been discovered to have fallen into this act of job racketeering with an amount of over ten (10) million naira swindled. Members of the public are equally advised to be wary of job scammers of this nature and avoid desperation in the name of seeking for employment.” The statement read.
