A fraudster has been caught red-handed after he used a mystery ring to try to steal inside a bank in Abuja.
The bank thief after he was arrested by the police
A bank thief identified as Lukeman Ibrahim from Bauchi State and a graduate of Pure Mathematics from the University of Maiduguri has been caught after he tried to withdraw N110, 000 (One Hundred and ten thousand naira) from a customer’s account after stealing his transfer slip, then forging the victim’s signature on a bank withdrawals slip right inside the bank.
Luck ran out on him as his wicked plan was discovered leading to his arrest. Speaking to Vanguard, the victim, Mr. Theophilus Agada said he had gone to GT bank, Garki branch, Abuja to transfer some money to another account when the fraud was attempted on his account.
He said, unknown to him, the suspect who was wearing a ring believed to be fetish perhaps trailed him to the bank, stole his transfer slip after he had transferred the money and gone and then attempted to withdraw the said sum before he was caught.
He said it was the bank who called his attention to the attempted fraud. According to him:
"I was already out of the bank premises when they called me and said someone wanted to make a withdrawal of N110, 000 from my account. They said they had to call me because the suspect’s face did not match mine.”
Continuing, Mr. Agada said, “on getting to my bank, I saw that the suspect forged exactly my signature and my full name. Everything was perfect except his face which gave him away.”
Mr. Agada said he wants everybody going to transact in the banks to always be wary of the person next to them as such a person could be a fraudster.
“This is the second time the suspect is trying to defraud people at the bank. Last week, he attempted defrauding another person at the Area 3 branch of GT Bank but was arrested and later bailed only for him to repeat the same crime at Area 11 today.
I want everybody to learn from this and know that while at the bank, they should be very alert as someone standing next could be a thief claiming to equally be a bank customer.”
The suspect was taken to Garki police station where he was remanded. He said at the police station that the suspect who is visibly under the influence of some drugs pleaded that he went into the fraud business because he was hungry.
The ring believed to be fetish was however taken from him by the police personnel. Mr. Agada also revealed that both the state and the bank are pressing charges on the suspect as he would be charged to court.