A former policeman, Charles Abam, has been arrested for attempting to defraud the children of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to The PUNCH, 36-year-old Abam had been jobless since 2003 when he lost his job as a policeman, before discovering that he could make a lot of money by defrauding influential Nigerians.
He allegedly got hold of the phone number of a prominent chieftain of the APC, whom he contacted by impersonating Mrs Daisy Danjuma, wife of Gen. T.Y. Danjuma.
The indigene of Ndukwa East, Delta State, said he quitted his police post in 2003 after being enticed by a chance to travel abroad.
Abam sent an SMS to the said APC chieftain, asking for the phone numbers of the President’s children.
The chieftain was said to have replied the SMS that she did not have the phone numbers of the President’s children but sent that of the elder brother of First Lady, Aisha, thinking she was communicating with Daisy Danjuma.
Abam again contacted the First Lady’s brother by SMS, asking for the phone numbers of the President’s children. He eventually got the phone numbers of the President’s children, whom he sent messages, again impersonating Danjuma, asking them to present 5 names for a phantom job with the NDLEA.
Members of the First Family played along and sent some names and phone numbers to the fraudster and his accomplice, Felix Machi. The suspect then asked them to pay a certain amount of money to a bank account, which would be payment for their kits during their training exercise. But no payment was made to the accounts.
Abam was eventually tracked down through the details of his bank account. The suspect, who also led operatives to arrest his accomplice, Machi, said he regrets his action. According to him, his fraudulent activities started in 2014.
He said: “Before I attempted to defraud the president’s children, I had defrauded many politicians by pretending to be a kidney disease patient.”