The suspect was arrested after one of his victims, Bernard, whom he duped N1million from, reported him to the police.
According to him, he said: “When I started, much as I pretended to be a lady on phone, some men on the other side didn’t believe me. I then downloaded an app on Google which transformed my voice into that of a lady whenever I was having a conversation on phone. I got several pictures of Shayla, a pretty United States based lady on my profile. Since then, men have been disturbing and calling me, to request for a date. What I do is that I assess people based on their appearance on Instagram, add them and thereafter open up conversations with them before I bring up all manners of stories in order to dupe them.
“At a point, I lied to most of them that I had an accident and lost my ATM. I would tell them that I needed some money. Some of them were generous enough to drop money into my account. I lied to them that I was putting up a boutique and saloon at Ikota, VGC and Lekki, and that I need money to finish setting up. I know I made a mistake downloading Shayla’s pictures and used them for fraudulent purposes.”
Israel was trailed to a popular club in Ikeja City Mall on Thursday evening, before arresting him. He was arrested after weeks of being monitored.
A police source said: “Investigations revealed that the suspect recently celebrated his birthday at Hard & Rock, Lekki, Lagos, week before his arrest, where he lavished over half a million on foods and drinks.”
The police further said: “The suspect’s activities on Instagram were placed under investigations when we received a complaint about an Instagram handle @blackberbiedoll, used for criminal activities, which was later, traced to him. Apart from @blackberbiedoll, which he prominently used for fraudulent activities, he maintained @froshwhite007 and @froshwhite separately for same purpose.”
Recalling how he was hoodwinked, the complainant, Bernard stated that he got a friend request from @blackberbiedoll.
He added: “The picture on the account was that of a lady. The lady in question messaged me on BBM. Honestly, I thought I was chatting with a woman who claimed to be in Nigeria at the time. She lied to me that her father was a Nigerian and her mum, a Kenyan, and so we got talking. “At a point, she lied that she was building a beauty outfit in Ikota Shopping Mall, VGC and that she was in need of some money to complete the mall. I had to transfer N1million to her. Weeks later, I grew suspicious of the account name Olawole Israel Oluwaseun Falope. I ran a search on Google, and then discovered it was all scam.
Immediately, I reported the incident to Instagram and that account was blocked and later suspended to prevent others from falling victim.”
Another victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that he paid N100, 000 into the suspect’s account to support ‘her’ bogus fashion outfit.
Investigations revealed that the owner of the profile pictures the suspect used, @Shayla had complained to Instagram that some Nigerians were using her profile pictures to scam unsuspecting members of the public.
It was also disclosed that the suspect claimed to be a friend of Toke Makinwa, Tonto Dike, Don jazzy, Peter Okoye, Toyin Aihmaku, Tee Y Mix, Oristsefemi, Timaya, Sean Tizzle, Dami Adenuga, Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga jnr, Ramsey Noah e.t.c.
Investigators confirmed that he was following a lot of Nigerian celebrities on Instagram but they could not confirm if any of them fell prey to Falope's antics, as many of his Instagram chats with them got no response.
The police said that the suspect’s claims of been a half cast, fashion designer, stylist, cosmetologist and model were all part of his fraud to make people fall for him. He was never a trainee or a specialist in any of this.
Items recovered from the suspect included, an iphone 6, 1 Samsung Galaxy A5, an Apple tablet, hand and neck chains, some new notes and a handbag.
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