It was a cloudy day for Patrick Akpoguma, an internet fraudster living in Lagos as he was nabbed by the Lagos Police Zone 2 Command Headquarters Lagos yesterday.
Patrick who wears masks in order to impersonate people while scamming his victims was arraigned by the Zone 2 Police Command in Lagos with some hard cash of Hundred Thousand United States Dollars $100,000 siezed.
The young man with the name Patrick Akpoguma is said to wear the mask to deceive his victims that he is a famous oyingbo of great personality, the Command’s Assistant Inspector General of Police Adegoke Fayoade said.
Patrick is said to have confessed to being guilty of the internet and identity theft crime which the Police calls “Romance Scam”. He confessed that he meets different people online, and presents himself either as a notable Caucasian American citizen named Colonel Matt Herbert, a serving US Army Officer who is currently on a peace keeping mission in Iran, or Adam Hergert, a renowned crypto stock broker. “He makes his unsuspecting victims believe he is a top executive, who is having one project or the other”, the AIG said.
Patrick when he was apprehended tried to offer bribe to the police with a cash bundle of Hundred Thousand US Dollars $100,000, $10,000 each. The cash which is over a 100 million in Naira equivalent was strategically accepted by the police who played along as if to accept the bribe from Patrick, which would later be presented as an exhibit in the court of law.
The AIG of the Zone 2 Police Command Lagos, has promised that Patrick would be taken to court as soon as possible.
