Suspected members of a transnational fraud syndicate arrested by personnel of the Ogun State Police Command have claimed that their activities in Nigeria were coordinated by a Malaysian national who operated entirely online.

They claimed that all members of the network worked under the directive of the Malaysian national, whom none of them had met physically.

The spokesperson for the command, Oluseyi Babaseyi, had in a statement on Monday stated that the suspects, arrested in the Agbado area of Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, were allegedly involved in a networking scheme known as “Ignite,” through which foreign nationals were lured into the country with promises of wealth and business opportunities.

Babaseyi revealed that the group allegedly recruited victims from several African countries and persuaded them to pay for products that never arrived, while encouraging them to bring in more members into the network.

The command also accused members of the syndicate of orchestrating a fake kidnapping plot involving a Mauritanian national, Cheikh Mhedy, from whose family they allegedly sought to obtain 6.5 million CFA Franc.

In a confessional statement obtained on Friday by Saturday PUNCH, one of the leaders of the group, 34-year-old Zadariah Sawadogo from Burkina Faso, said he came to Nigeria in 2023 in search of better opportunities before he was introduced to the Ignite networking scheme by a friend identified as Sebastien.

Sawadogo said, “We took orders from Malaysia. Our boss is a Malaysian national, and I have never met him before. We only communicate on the internet. I was born in Burkina Faso, but I grew up in Ivory Coast. When I came to Nigeria, my friend Sebastien told me about Ignite Networking. He said I would make a lot of money from the business, but before I was arrested, I had only received $90,” he said.

He explained that participants were expected to recruit new members and purchase products allegedly supplied by the Malaysian-based operator.

“When Sebastien introduced me to Ignite Networking, he told me I would get products from our boss in Malaysia and earn money based on the number of people I referred to the business,” he added.

The suspect claimed that after buying land in Ivory Coast with the intention of building a house, he persuaded his father to sell it and send him the proceeds to invest in the business.

Sawadogo, however, lamented that the products never arrived.

“My father sold the land for 1.6 million CFA Franc and sent the money to me in Nigeria. I rented the apartment where we were arrested for N500,000 and used the remaining money to order Ignite products.

“Till the moment we were arrested, my product had not arrived from Malaysia. Our boss kept saying more people needed to pay before the products could be shipped together. I only received $90 as a referral bonus,” he added.

The police also identified 25-year-old Sole Nata as the woman who allegedly lured Mhedy, whom she met online, from Mauritania to Nigeria.

Nata admitted to introducing Mhedy to the networking scheme after they became lovers online.

According to her, Mhedy arrived in Nigeria without enough money to purchase the products, and she paid N500,000 on his behalf.

She said, “I met Cheikh online, and we became lovers. I told him to come to Nigeria and make money through Ignite Network products. When he came to Nigeria, he didn’t bring money with him and could not pay for his product. I used my own N500,000 to pay for it,” she said.

Nata, however, claimed that Mhedy was the one who devised the fake kidnapping story used to obtain money from his father.

“He lied to his father that he had been kidnapped in Nigeria and that the kidnappers were demanding 6.5 million CFA Franc as ransom. We told him the amount was too much, but he insisted that his father was rich and would only send money if he believed his son had been abducted,” she further stated.

Another member of the group, a Togolese artist identified as Kuneji Ezekiel, described himself as a victim of the scheme.

Ezekiel said he joined the network after a friend, identified simply as Zanu, promised that he would become wealthy.

“I paid 400,000 CFA Franc for my product, but I never received anything before the police arrested us. There were about 50 of us living in the apartment. It was the leaders who communicated with the boss in Malaysia and passed instructions to the rest of us,” he said.

Babaseyi warned residents against falling victim to fraudulent networking schemes.

He reiterated the command’s commitment to ridding the state of criminal elements and protecting residents from fraudsters operating under the guise of legitimate businesses.

The PPRO told Saturday PUNCH that preliminary investigations showed that some of those arrested were victims who had been recruited into the scheme.

According to him, such persons have been transferred to the Nigerian Immigration Service for further profiling and necessary action. (Saturday PUNCH)

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