In a shocking turn of events, a 23-year-old online business operator, Akinnowonu Damilola Victoria, has been apprehended for allegedly defrauding her customers of a staggering N150 million. The young lady from Kolawole Street, Tunga, Minna, confessed to running the fraudulent online business for over a year, taking orders and payments from unsuspecting customers but failing to deliver the promised items.
According to Wasiu Abiodun, the police public relations officer (PPRO) of the Niger State command, the case involves charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust, and internet-related offenses. The matter was brought to the attention of the Command from the Magistrate Court in Minna, prompting the swift action of police operatives attached to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), who successfully arrested the suspect with the assistance of her family.
During interrogation, Victoria revealed that she had been operating the online business for about a year, using a link she discovered on Facebook to showcase a variety of items, including female clothes, bags, shoes, phones, laptops, and other electronic gadgets. Through this platform, she managed to attract numerous customers who eagerly placed orders for these products.
However, the suspect admitted that due to customer complaints about prices, she occasionally accepted orders at lower rates and utilized the proceeds to fulfill other customers’ requests. This led to a backlog of pending orders that she could not meet, resulting in a spiraling cycle of deception.
In her elaborate scheme, Victoria deceived her victims by claiming that her goods had been seized by Customs. To further deepen her fraud escapades, she rented two warehouses in the Tunga/Kpakungu areas of Minna, spending over N2 million in the process.
Preliminary investigations by the police uncovered that the suspect owes over 100 customers an estimated N150 million. Currently, 72 victims have come forward at the SCID Minna, providing statements detailing their harrowing experiences with the fraudulent operator.
As the case continues to undergo thorough investigation, Victoria remains under interrogation at SCID Minna. Once the investigation concludes, she will be arraigned before the court for prosecution, facing the consequences of her elaborate online scam that deceived so many unsuspecting individuals.
