Wonder banks have defrauded over 1,000 victims, especially in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, who disclosed this, said he came to Aba to evaluate the work of the panel he recently set up to unravel the activities of wonder banks in the state.

He said: “The preliminary report I have received from the panel is more worrisome than I initially thought. The number of victims defrauded is on the high side. I want to use this opportunity to urge all victims of the scam to meet up with the panel and get documented so as to know which side of the fraudulent organisation they fall into.”

According to New Telegraph report, Ezike warned against extortion of the already defrauded people by any police officer, stressing that residents should ignore any policeman who asked them to give anything in order to help them retrieve their money.

He said: “I’m here to evaluate the work of the panel I set out on Friday to evaluate and aggregate the reports the police are getting about the large scale fraud that is going on in the state, predominantly in Aba. Several organisations and groups have come out masquerading as cooperative societies, empowerment units, women groups, church empowerment programmes.

“They have been making people pay huge sums of money, with the hope that in less than weeks, the interest will double. Many gullible people have fallen prey to this suspected scam. “When I set up the panel, we were thinking that about 1,000 persons had been defrauded, but the report I’m getting from the panel is even more worrisome.

“Ten suspects are in custody. From tomorrow (today), we shall be dialoguing with a part of the judiciary to ensure that the right things are done.”

While urging citizens to be wary of unauthorised illegal financial institutions and empowerment units, Ezike added that there was no free lunch anywhere in the world.

The commissioner listed the crimes already established in the money doubling wonder bank case to include forgery, conspiracy, fraud, obtaining under false pretences, illegal operation of financial institutions and stealing.

He added: “We call on the victims of the scam to meet up with the panel at the Aba Area Commander’s Office. The panel is headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police. They should go there and have their information documented to enable us to know the divide they fall. If any policeman or security agent tells them to bring anything to enable them to help them, let them ignore such because such people are also conspirators in this fraud.”

•Sourced from New Telegraph report

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