Do you know all your friends on facebook? Olasupo Olanrewaju‘s story is a reminder that one should think twice before clicking on the ‘add‘ button when a friend request is received, writes TOYOSI OGUNSEYE. Nothing about Olasupo Olanrewaju gives him away as a fraudster. Instead, his soft-spoken and gentle demeanor endears the 30-year-old man to most people. Olasupo, therefore, has no problem making friends. In fact, his courteous nature makes the ladies love him. Unknown to most of the women, there is more to Olasupo than meets the eye.
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The native of Ondo State, who claims to have an Ordinary National Diploma in Marketing from the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, utilizes the internet and all forms of social media to woo women. When he meets a lady, he introduces himself as a modelling agent who is in search of beautiful women to grace the billboards of multinational companies. If the lady agrees to work with him, he arranges a location in a part of Nigeria where she does not live. That is, if the woman lives in Abuja, he will ask her to meet him at a specific hotel in Benin or if she lives in Owerri, he will ask her to meet him in Lagos.
Ironically, Olasupo does not live in Nigeria. ”I live at Number 13, Ndam Amoarko New Town, Accra Ghana,” he says. According to him, he started living in Accra three years ago after his uncle who resides in Ghana asked Olasupo to stay with him. He says, ”I produce commercial jingles and I also have a barbing shop in Accra. I started living in Ghana in 2007.I went to Ghana with an uncle of mine who is into buying and selling. My uncle felt I could do better in Accra; that was why he took me along with him. When I visit Nigeria, I stay at Olunloyo, Ibadan.”
Olasupo, the sixth of his parents seven children, says that his first job after leaving the polytechnic, was as a marketer with Mutltichoice, ”Before I went to Ghana, I was living in Abuja where I worked as a contractor on the ninth floor of the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication. I used to repair computers when I was there. Just after my OND in Marketing from the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, I was living in Lagos. I was also producing commercial jingles and was involved in musical concerts for about seven years. I used to market for Mutichoice in Lagos. I did not go for my HND because I wanted to travel abroad.”
So desperate was his bid to travel overseas that Olasupo decided to con aspiring models on the Internet. Using facebook, which is one of the most common social networks, he searched for pretty ladies and added them to his friends‘ list. Once the lady agrees to his friend‘s request, Olasupo then sends a message to her inbox introducing himself as a modelling agent that has a fantastic offer for her. If the woman indicates any interest in the offer, Olasupo goes for the kill- he arranges a meeting in a city different from where the lady resides.
Without much persuasion, Olasupo tells SUNDAY PUNCH his modus operandi, he even volunteers information that he is not asked. He says, ”I am involved in fraudulent activities on the internet. I go online in search of models and pretend as if I have a genuine modelling outfit. I use facebook most of the time but I also use twitter and Niger Pals to search for girls. Basically, there are some platforms for models on these networks. I select randomly and contact them by sending a message to their inbox saying that I am a modelling agent. I will tell them that there is an auditioning for models that I want them to participate in by sending a message to their inbox. I ask the models for their pictures and ask them to send it to gndtainment_models@yahoo.com. I also add them as my friends on facebook. We exchange phone numbers and I give them an address to meet me outside Lagos for their auditioning. I ask them to meet me outside the city where they live because it is safer for me and they bring a lot of money along with them if they are travelling outside their state. I have 10 victims so far.”
Olasupo, who bears Olasupo Davids on facebook, claims that he started this fraudulent activity about four months ago, ”I was involved in it last year; I stopped and went back to it again this year.”
When his victim gets to the hotel where he is to meet her, Olasupo teaches her the basics of modelling and catwalk on the first day. The next day, he dashes into her room very early in the morning and tells her that she should hurry up because they would be late for the audition. The highly expectant lady runs into the bathroom to have her bath, leaving Olasupo with her belongings in the room. He strikes at this point and steals all her belongings and disappears into thin air.
This was what happened to Abioye Olamide and Olaoye Folashade. In Abioye‘s case, he met her in a bus at Ado-Ekiti. ”I told her that I was a modelling agent and that she looked like a potential model. We then exchanged phone numbers.” He searched for her on facebook and they became friends. He then sent her a mail that read, ”You are hereby invited for the audition for a pictorial modelling billboard job for a visual advert. This will be coming up on August 24 and 26, 2010. You are to come with your costumes because you will be taking pictures and video at the audition venue. Your entry code is #NH-134. Venue is Governor‘s Centre, Akure/Ilesha. Time is 8a.m. We shall be looking forward to having you here, kindly print out this letter and come along with it. You will not be allowed without it. ”
The address on the mail is Gudtainment International, Plot 153, Mallam Rabiu Avenue,Off Maitama Road, Abuja which Olasupo says is not genuine.
When Abioye got to Akure, Olasupo taught her how to cat-walk and told her that they would go for the auditioning the following day. The next day, Olasupo asked her to have her bath because they were late for the event and made away with her belongings when she was in the bathroom.
In Olaoye‘s case, Olasupo invited her to Benin from Abuja after he met her on facebook. While she was also in the bathroom at Boston Hotel, he says he made away with all her belongings. He was also able to take N200,000 from her account because her Automated Teller Machine password that the bank gave her was in her bag. When Olaoye came out of the bathroom and noticed that Olasupo had gone with everything she had, she reported to the Central Intelligence Bureau in Benin.”
The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Frank Mba, says that the police in Benin, were able to arrest Olasupo‘s friend, Lucky, who was the one that reserved the room in the hotel.
Olasupo says that he knows Lucky, ”We lived in Accra together and he is also involved in the same fraudulent activity. In fact, we use the same e-mail address.”
When Lucky was arrested, the police got a list of the next victims he and Olasupo were targeting and Olaoye got in touch with one of them through facebook. Olaoye told the lady, who was identified as Blessing, to play along with Olasupo.
Blessing, who resides in Owerri, was given an appointment at the Lakeview Hotel, Trade Fair, Lagos. When she got there, she met Olasupo waiting for her in the reception. Unknown to him, Blessing was a bait. Shortly after, the police from the Trade Fair Police Station arrested him at the hotel.
Mba says there is a lot to learn from Olasupo, ”There are so many Olasupos‘ out there. We need to learn how not to give our personal information to strangers. All the ladies that fell prey to Olasupo did not know him, yet they added him as their friend on facebook and agreed to meet a stranger in hotels. Also, once the bank gives you your ATM password, change it immediately.”
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