35-YEAR-OLD FACEBOOK CRIMINAL ARRESTED IN LAGOS

A 35 year-old father of three, Michael Atanda, has told operatives of the Rapid Response Squad[RRS] Ikeja, Lagos state, how easy it was to hoodwink ladies via Facebook into sending him nude pictures, which he will later use to blackmail them.

The suspect, described as a former convict said that his hobby was to befriend ladies on social media, pretend like he was serious about marrying them, and then get their nude pictures. He said after that, he would start threatening to share the nude pictures on social media if they did not pay him money. Atanda was said to have been jailed last year for similar offence, after fraudulently collecting N700,000 from a lady he met on a dating site.

He was arrested on last week after he started blackmailing four ladies. They reported him to the police. Atanda, a national Diploma Holder from a computer school in Ikeja, was arrested by the surveillance team of the RRS after about a five day manhunt. 

Confessing his modus operandi, Atanda said: "My Facebook location says that i am based in London United Kingdom. Whenever i come across ladies on Facebook, i always introduce myself as a construction engineer, that i and my parents live in Europe. After sometimes, i would lure the ladies into sexual conversation and persuade them to send their nude pictures to me. After much persuasion they would send. I would send them mine too. Before sending their pictures, i would pretend as if i was seeking a serious relationship with them, and i would promise them that i would be coming to Abuja on a business trip and promise to see some of them residing in Abuja.

Whenever i wanted to call the girls, i always used a software that automatically changes my Nigerian line to an international one. They would believe that I was calling from London. After they must have sent their nude pictures to me, i would come up with all manners of stories and begin to demand. I have collected about 121,000 from my victims. I collected only N10,000 from one Motunrayo, N6,000 from Joy and N105,000 from one Lizzy," 

The police said: "After he collected N121,000, from the four girls, he wanted to collect more money from them, He said that if they fail to give him more money, he would leak their nude pictures on the social network. The suspect, in order to defraud ladies on the social media, changed his name to Segun Bayo, and claim to be a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and went about adding several ladies on his Facebook friends list. Some of the victims, through phone call, told the police that  they had been paying the suspect not to leak their nude pictures online."

The state Police public relations officer[PPRO], Dolapo Badmos, said: "The suspect has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department[SCID], Panti, Yaba, for further investigation."