A 63-year-old woman has fallen ill after being scammed of N6.2 million by fraudsters in Lagos State.
Anu Joseph, the victim’s daughter said her mother is currently battling High Blood pressure as a result of the unfortunate incident.
Joseph said she sent her mother money on June 7, 2023 to address an urgent issue.
The 63-year-old woman went to bank, but couldn’t complete the transaction because she needed some document.
On her way back, the woman fell into the hand of fraudsters.
The victim’s daughter said: “It happened on June 7, 2023. I transferred some money to my mum for something very important and I asked her to go to a branch of a bank on Victoria Island. She went but could not complete the transaction because of one missing document.
“She came out of the bank to leave and was asking how she would get to Ojuelegba from there. Coincidentally, a car parked in front of her and the driver asked her where she was headed and she told him. He asked her to enter.
According to my mum, they started discussing Pounds, someone having a consignment and all that, and they convinced her to withdraw N3m and give it to them.
My mum could not tell anyone until her BP went high and she became ill. She is no longer in her right frame of mind since she realised it was a scam. She didn’t want to accept that she has been defrauded.
As if that was not enough, these people kept contacting her and she kept sending them money to the tune of N6.2m,” she added.
Anu Joseph wondered why it was difficult for the policemen at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, to trace the fraudsters despite that their bank details were provided.
The spokesperson of the FCID, Niyi Ogundeyi, confirmed the incident adding that investigation was ongoing on the case.
Ogundeyi said: “I met with the victim’s daughter. I have seen the petition, and some processes need to be funded irrespective of the policeman that will treat it.
“They need to do tracking and it will cost money. The police don’t have a tracking machine. They also need a court order to be able to track the phone numbers on the accounts instead of looking for people without addresses.
“In Lagos, courts don’t give court orders again. The police will have to go to Ibadan to go get this court order because banks will not do anything without it.
“It is a process and the police do not have money to do all that.
“However, the investigation is still ongoing and from my findings, the policeman in charge of the case is doing the needful to make sure the suspects are arrested.”
