bank with 17 years of service, who informed him that the account was on Post No Debit status. Nnamani advised Okwudili to obtain a court affidavit and modify his National Identification Number (NIN) details to match those of the account’s legitimate owner, Mba John Ndukwe, to gain access to the account.”Furthermore, Okwudili enlisted the services of Philip Ozogwu, an NIN enrolment agent, who unlawfully changed his name, date of birth, and other personal details on his NIN to match those of the victim without questioning his intentions. “He gave Philip the sum of Forty thousand Naira (N40,000.00) for the “service”.
With this altered information, Nnamani facilitated the fraudulent reactivation of the account, bypassing verification checks, including the Bank Verification Number (BVN) link.”After reactivating the account, Okwudili immediately withdrew N100,000 and gave Nnamani N50,000 as a “payment” for his role.”The statement added, “He later withdrew an additional N1,500,000, which triggered an alert from the bank’s Ohafia, Abia State, branch, where the account was originally opened. “This led to the detection of the fraud and the consequent reporting of the case to the police by the Enugu branch management of the bank.
On October 18, 2024, when Okwudili attempted another transaction at the bank, he was arrested, along with Nnamani, by police officers from the Command’s CPS Enugu, while Ozogwu was later arrested.”The three suspects have been charged with conspiracy, identity theft, forgery, and fraud before the Enugu North District Magistrate Court of Enugu State, Nigeria. “On the orders of the court, Ndulaka Okwudili and Ifeanyi Nnamani were remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Custodial custody, while Philip Ozogwu was granted bail pending further proceedings.
Moreover, the case file was transmitted to the Attorney General of Enugu State, through the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), for a further legal opinion.” Meanwhile, Ndukwe said that the Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, has commended the bank for its cooperation in exposing the fraudulent activity and urged the public to exercise caution in managing personal identification information and securing devices containing sensitive data to prevent falling victim to similar crimes.
