The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on Thursday said it has arrested three suspects for alleged conspiracy and obtaining N7.1m by false pretence in Benue State.

The suspects – Adewuyi A. Adebayo, 31; Osikoya K. Gboyega, 44 and Akintunde Ogunrinde, 47 – were arrested on September 9, 2019.

They were arrested at different locations in Lagos State and transferred to Makurdi, Benue State.

According to EFCC, the petitioner alleged that on 18th of February, 2018, he noticed his MTN line had stopped working as no calls or messages came to his phone and the phone displayed a message saying, ‘invalid SIM card’.

He went to the MTN office to lodge a complaint but was told to apply for a welcome back SIM that was not successful as someone else had swapped his SIM card in Abia State.

He immediately contacted his account officer at FCMB to inform them of the development and to change his alert phone number to another line only to discover that transactions had occurred on his account without his consent.

The threshold limit for online transfers on his account had also been increased above N500,000 and the sum of N7,107,540 removed from his account.

Further investigations revealed that the suspects masterminded the alleged fraud. The suspects will soon be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.

The EFCC’s statement added that further investigations revealed that a syndicate comprising of Adebayo, Gboyega, Ogunrinde, and others now at large, were allegedly behind the fraud.

READ ALSO: We didn’t vote in Ebuka, Nollywood actress slams  Osinbajo for slaying in white ‘agbada’

During interrogation, the suspects claimed one Alhaji White was their leader but could not provide his full name.

“Alhaji White is alleged to have met with Akintunde Ogunrinde a.k.a Kekere for a UBA account number. Ogunrinde approached Osikoya Gboyega who then approached Adewuyi Adebayo. Adebayo supplied the account number used for the business,” the statement said.