Death row inmate scams woman of N17m from prison

An inmate on death row at Ibara Correctional Centre in Ogun State, Femi Oso, has been accused of using a romance scam to defraud an unknown lady of N17m in the state.

Oso and the victim connected on Facebook and began a relationship. The victim later discovered that Oso never disclosed his status as an inmate and suspected foul play. She shared her experience with her sister, who reported the case to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Ondo State Police Command. Police traced the Point-of-Sale operator Ayoola, who admitted to paying Oso in tranches amounting to N17m. Ayoola also revealed that school cleaner Nofisat Adeosun and Oso’s brother-in-law Segun collected money from him on Oso’s instructions.

Adeosun was arrested on the allegations, but investigation proved that she had no connection to the crime. She helped to collect money from the PoS operator for an inmate who was not Oso. When Ayoola was arrested for the fraud, he claimed that he met Oso through Adeosun but refused to disclose that Adeosun knew nothing about the N17m. The investigation revealed that Oso pleaded with Adeosun to help him collect money from the PoS operator, as she had done before for a former inmate. The police are on the trail of Oso’s wife, who went into hiding after realizing that the police were investigating the case.

The police have not paraded anyone yet, but the investigation is ongoing. The Nigerian Correctional Service in Ogun State declined to comment on the case. The case is similar to that of Hope Aroke, a convicted Internet fraudster serving a 24-year jail term in Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre in Lagos State, who allegedly masterminded a $1m scam while in custody in November 2019.