The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 100 level student of a journalism institute, identified as Falope Oluwole for allegedly impersonating a US female makeup artist, duping no fewer than 33 men.
Reports stated that the 22-year-old, part-time student posted the photo of a US artist, Shayla, on his social media page, through which he duped the men who ask him out.
His movement was reportedly monitored by security men, he was trailed and caught on Thursday by the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad.
One of his victims, who identified himself only as Bernard, noted that he got a friendship request from him, adding that he accepted it thinking that a female owned the account.
Narrating his ordeal to newsmen, he said, ”Apparently, the picture on the account was that of a lady. The lady in question messaged me on BBM. Honestly, I thought I was chatting with a woman who claimed to be in Nigeria at the time.
“She lied to me that her father was a Nigerian and her mum, a Kenyan. At a point, she lied that she was building a beauty outfit in the Ikota Shopping Mall, VGC, and that she was in need of some money to complete the mall.
“I had to transfer N1m to her. Weeks later, I got suspicious of the account name, Oluwole Israel Oluwaseun Falope. I ran a search on Google and that was when I discovered it was a scam.”
The security operatives noted that Oluwole, in his statement said he started the fraudulent act about two years ago, ”I pretended to be a lady on the phone, some men didn’t believe me. I then downloaded an application which transformed my voice into that of a lady whenever I had a conversation. I got several pictures of Shayla on my profile. Since then, men started disturbing me and calling to request a date.
”I assess people based on their appearance on Instagram, add them and thereafter open up conversations with them before I bring up all kinds of stories to dupe them.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the reports to newsmen and warned members of the public to be wary of those they talked to on the social media, adding that case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigations.
