Five suspected members of a real estate scam gang, who were reportedly about to lease out a duplex in Lagos State, were on Wednesday arrested by the operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) at the point of exchange of money and keys.
The men – Abolade Oladimeji (43), Ademola Ayo (45), Emmanuel Fabiyi (65), Ademola Hakeem (49) and Sunday Ayodele (52) – were arrested in Lekki Phase 2 after almost sealing the deal for the leasing of someone else’s duplex to one Mr. Obi (not real name).
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A statement made available to Qed.ng on Sunday stated that the suspects all of whom are real estate agents living in border towns of Lagos and Ogun had pretended to be agents of the duplex.
To expand their dragnet, the suspects had allegedly advertised the property on jiji.ng with a total lease package for a year put at N4.5 million.
According to the leader of the gang, Ademola Hakeem, he had been using his knowledge of computer to post for sale and lease on various websites non-existing landed property, apartments and buildings. He added that they lure unsuspecting publics with attractive prices.
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In his confessional statement to the police, Hakeem disclosed that in early September, he posted a vacancy of a 4-bedroom duplex in Lekki Phase 2 which attracted so many people amongst whom was one Mr. Obi.
“Immediately he called me through the contact on the advertisement, I knew he was genuine. I mobilized my colleagues and allocated roles to each of them to make the deal seamless. Abolade Oladimeji conducted himself as the estate lawyer. He discussed at length with our client on the legal angle as well as visitation before payment”, he stated.
“Ademola Ayo was in charge of taking client on house or land inspection. Emmanuel Fabiyi, the eldest among the team played the role of a principal agent and sometimes acted as site engineer while Sunday Ayodele assisted Fabiyi to make him look like a big man who is well-groomed and seasoned in the business”, he explained.
“After the inspection, Mr Obi requested to pay us with a cheque. Initially, we rejected as our mode of payment is through bank transfer. This is to avoid too much contact as we have dedicated account owners who connive with various teams of fraud syndicates that receive deposits into their accounts and collect 30% of the proceed. After much deliberation on the mode of payment, we agreed to collect the cheque.”
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Emmanuel Fabiyi, popularly called Baba, said “my age has been so instrumental in the various scams we’ve perpetrated. Unsuspecting victims get convinced that a man of my age wouldn’t be a scammer. This makes them want to do business with us and part with their hard-earned money for land purchases, rent or lease of properties.”
He added that the police made them repay N3.2 million in one of their recent scams. He added that the gang had been involved in many successful property scams both in Lagos and Ogun State.
Fabiyi confessed that the N4.5 million was to be shared in the following manner; “the account owner collects 30%, Hakeem, the bringer of the deal collects 30%, Abolade 10%, Ayo, 10%, Baba, 20% and shares 5% with Sunday Ayodele.
Lagos commissioner of police, Zubairu Muazu, while reacting to the incident, advised Lagosians to be careful while dealing with estate agents and always request to see the owner of the property, and also verify their identity before parting with money.
