Police probe Providus Bank, officials, others for alleged N1.1bn scam

The police in Abuja is currently investigating the involvement of Providus Bank Limited, some of its officials and another commercial bank in an alleged N1 billion fraud scam, THE WITNESS reports.

THE WITNESS learnt that bank officials are being quizzed following a transfer of about N1 billion by a bureau de change operator in Abuja, Shamsudeen Ahmed through the banks to suspected criminals, who reportedly offered to sell $1 million from Dubai to him and the mysterious disappearance of the huge sum of money.

It was learned that detectives are looking into the involvement of the bank staff in the illegal transfer of the money after the suspects provided three account details where the complainant paid in the money only to later discover that the suspects conspired to defraud.

In a petition written on behalf of the complainant by Anthony Odule, and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, seen by THE WITNESS, the complainant alleged that on December 8, 2023, he was contacted by the suspects, Gambo Dahiru, Ibrahim Mohammed, Shaibu Mohammed and Francis Azubuike aka Frank, who deceived him to believe that there was a genuine $1 million for sale from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which he innocently indicated interest.

According to the petition, “Our client stated that the suspects provided the following account details: Account Name: Ushaib Global Investment Limited; Account number; Account number: 5400393231, domicile in (Providus Bank), Account name; Yadiz Oil and Gas Plc Nigeria Limited account; domicile in (a third-generation bank) and Account Name: A&M. Technology Red Set; Account number – 5404168804, (Providus Bank), where the complainant paid in N830 million, N330 million and N10 million, respectively.

“Our client stated that upon preliminary investigation, it was found that the suspects conspired among themselves to defraud our client of his hard-earned money as they do not have dollars anywhere to give to our client but have shared the money amongst themselves.

“What is worrisome to our client is that he borrowed part of the money he sent to the suspects and his conspirators, which non-payment will greatly affect his reputation negatively.”

It was gathered that immediately the complainant suspected foul play, he sent letters to all the banks where the money was sent, notifying them of the development and appealing that they stop the payment of the money and refund it to him.

However, according to the complainant, “One of the banks has refunded part of the money but the other one refused to send my money back to me. They claimed that the owner of the accounts said they gave me a value for the money which is not true.

“If they insist on telling that lie, why did the bank not ask for evidence? I asked the bank to return my money or freeze the account where the money was paid but they have not done anything. They have all the power to stop this fraud but they failed to do it.”

Police sources said detectives have been interrogating the officials of the banks while six of the suspected fraudsters have been arrested and they have refunded some amount of the money.

Efforts by THE WITNESS to reach the banks failed as calls made to their Head of Corporate Communications were not responded to.